Postcomm and the OFT update their agreed practice on working arrangement
13 December 2004
Postcomm today published a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) setting out how it will work with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on issues affecting competition.
The MoU was originally published in June 2003. Both the OFT (under the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002) and Postcomm (under Royal Mail’s licence) have powers to investigate anti-competitive behaviour, and the purpose of the MoU is to clarify the roles of Postcomm and the OFT in this respect.
The MoU has been amended following the reform of the framework for the enforcement of European competition law by the EC Modernisation Regulation¹ and the alignment of UK competition law with this new framework. The Modernisation Regulation empowers the OFT to apply EC competition law to anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominance in the UK where they may have an effect on trade between Member States.
1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty (OJ L1, 4.1.03, p1).
