Guidance

Disclosure of information in CMA work: CC7

Guidance on disclosure of information in merger inquiries, market investigations and reviews of undertakings and orders.

From:
Competition and Markets Authority
Published
1 April 2013
Last updated
5 July 2017 — See all updates

Documents

Chairman’s guidance on disclosure of information in merger inquiries, market investigations and reviews of undertakings and orders accepted or made under the Enterprise Act 2002 and Fair Trading Act 1973

Ref: CC7 (Revised)

PDF, 324 KB, 22 pages

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Details

This guidance was originally published by the Competition Commission (CC) and has been adopted by the CMA Board. The original text has been retained unamended, therefore it does not reflect or take account of developments in case law, legislation or practice since its original publication.

Please also note:

  • this guidance must be read in the light of Transparency and disclosure: Statement of the CMA’s policy and approach (CMA6)
  • in particular, paragraph 9.9 of CC7 (Revised) has been amended by CMA6 to read as follows: “Groups are reminded of the opportunity provided to parties to make further representations to the Procedural Officer if they wish to dispute the proposal of a Group to disclose information. This is additional to the opportunity for parties to make known their concerns to the Group. Groups are required to have regard to the views of the Procedural Officer if the party has made representations to him. The decision to disclose will, however, remain that of the Group.”
  • the CMA has published updated guidance on market investigation procedures, contained within CMA3. The following paragraphs are particularly affected by the changes: 6.5, 6.13, 7.1 to 7.3, 8.3, 8.4, 9.8 and the table in the Explanatory Note. In the case of conflict, CMA3 prevails
  • references to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) or CC (except where referring to specific past OFT or CC practice or case law) should be read as referring to the CMA
  • references to ‘referral to the CC’ or ‘a reference to the CC’ should be read as the referral of a case by the CMA (or Secretary of State) either for a Phase 2 investigation involving an Inquiry Group of CMA panel members or for a market investigation by a market reference group of CMA panel members
  • references to articles of the EC Treaty should be read as referring to the equivalent articles of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
  • certain OFT or CC departments, teams or individual roles may not be replicated in the CMA, or may have been renamed; the CMA’s structure is set out in our organisation chart
  • do not use any contact details quoted; please go to the home page for details on how to contact the CMA

The fines that could be imposed on summary conviction for certain criminal offences referred to in this document were, at that time, subject to specific caps of £5,000 or above. With effect from 12 March 2015, these caps have been removed and those specific offences are now punishable by a fine of any amount. For more information see the Ministry of Justice news story.

Published 1 April 2013
Last updated 5 July 2017 + show all updates

  1. ‘Detail’ section updated (3rd bullet) following consultation on the CMA’s approach to market investigations.

  2. First published.

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