The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom was created by Section 12 and Schedule 2 to the Enterprise Act 2002 which came into force on 1 April 2003. The Competition Service is an executive non-departmental public body which was created as a support body for the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Functions

The current functions of the CAT are: * To hear appeals on the merits in respect of decisions made under the Competition Act 1998 by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

(CMA) and the regulators in the telecommunications, electricity, gas,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

, railways and air traffic services sectors. * To hear actions for damages and other monetary claims under the Competition Act 1998. * To review decisions made by the Secretary of State, CMA and the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

in respect of merger and market references or possible references under the Enterprise Act 2002. * To hear appeals against certain decisions made by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

and the Secretary of State relating to the exercise by Ofcom of its functions under Part 2 (networks, services and the radio spectrum) and sections 290 to 294 and Schedule 11 (networking arrangements for Channel 3) of the

Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. It ...

. * To hear appeals in respect of decisions made by the CMA under the EC Competition Law (Articles 84 and 85) Enforcement Regulations 2001 (as amended).

Cases

Online hotel booking

In March 2014, the price-comparison site,

Skyscanner Skyscanner is a metasearch engine and travel agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 100 million people per month. The company lets people research and book travel options for their trips ...

, brought a case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), challenging a January 2014 decision by the UK's antitrust authority – then known as the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

(OFT) – to settle a probe over pricing of hotel rooms online. The OFT's decision had been to accept commitments from a number of online travel agents and

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the F ...

(IHG). Skyscanner appealed against the OFT's successor, the

(CMA), because it believed its business would be affected by the settlement, even though it wasn't targeted by the investigation. Skyscanner's case was supported by a smaller online travel agent, Skoosh, which had triggered the OFT's original investigation. In a judgment handed down in September 2014, the Competition Appeal Tribunal quashed the Office of Fair Trading's decision to accept commitments in the online hotel booking sector and the matter was reverted to the CMA for reconsideration.

References

External links

Competition Appeal Tribunal
United Kingdom tribunals Competition regulators 2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Consumer organisations in the United Kingdom {{UK-law-stub