Overview

One of the worst-kept secrets in the world of competition law became official this month: the UK Government is planning to merge the Office of Fair Trading with the Competition Commission (CC) as part of Vince Cable’s bonfire of the quangos.

Although a consultation must be launched next year and the new body will not be with us until 2012 or 2013, many believe that the main survivor of the re-organisation will be the OFT.

The news has been welcomed by many businesses who believe that the new, single body will speed up the review process. However as Linklaters former co-head of competition Alec Burnside cautions in this opinion piece, this view ignores the experience in France, where the complaint about the equivalent authority, the Directorate General for Competition, is that it is judge, jury and prosecutor.