New help for consumers and businesses to take action against price fixing | WPN World People News

Groups of consumers and companies will find it easier to take collective legal action against businesses acting in an anti-competitive way under new proposals announced by Competition Minister Jo Swinson today. Included in the measures is a new fast-track regime that will help small businesses fight anti-competitive practices that stifle growth.

Currently, when a business fixes prices or carries out other types of behaviour that distort competition, individuals or other businesses that have been harmed as a result often find it difficult and costly to go to court and seek remedies. The changes published today will make it easier for consumers or businesses when they do have a dispute, making sure that the problem is resolved quickly and fairly.

The changes include:

making the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) the main court for competition actions in the UK, including a fast track regime;
introducing a new opt-out collective actions regime, with protections, for competition law; and
promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), to make sure that wherever possible any disputes are resolved without resorting to courts.
Competition Minister Jo Swinson said,

"Competition is one of the great drivers of growth; it keeps our prices low and our businesses innovating. This is why it’s important that where there are businesses who abuse their position in the market, those who have been affected can take appropriate action."

Examples of how the changes could benefit consumers and businesses include:

if a number of airlines began to fix prices of fuel surcharges, and every consumer affected paid £50 more for a ticket than they should have, they could be included in a collective action to recoup that £50 for each individual;
if medium-sized car garage suffered losses because of a supplier abusing its position by withholding spare parts to drive up prices, the car garage could put the case to the CAT. If it appeared that prolonging the situation would bankrupt the garage, the CAT could act quickly and fast-track the case to provide an injunction, resulting in the supplier having to restart their supply.

Source: U.K. Department for Business Innovation & Skills