Office of Fair Trading

The communitisation of British antitrust law aligns it on Arts. 85 and 86 (now 81 & 82) of the EC Treaty. The Competition Act 1998, which does this, comes into force on 1 March 2000. In preparation for this change, the OFT has thoroughly reorganised its Competition Policy Division with the addition of 55 new staff. Four new sectoral branches and two new general branches are added to the existing Mergers branch, making seven in all, shaped along the lines of the EC Commission’s Competition DG. The Director of Competition Policy, Margaret Bloom, heads the Division. The seven branches are:

• Policy Co-ordination: this will ensure that all decisions under the Competition Act 1998 are consistent, not only with each other but also with EC rulings and precedents (headed by Edward Whitehorn; chief economist: Peter Bamford).
• Mergers: this continues largely unchanged (headed by Andrew White).
• Cartel Investigation: this will investigate price-fixing and market sharing and, from 1 March 2000, will have enhanced powers to enter premises and take away evidence (headed by Adrian Walker-Smith).
• Media, Sport & Information Industries: sectoral branch (headed by Gisela Davis).
• Service Industries: sectoral branch (headed by Steven Wood).
• Basic Industries, Energy & Vehicles: sectoral branch (headed by Alan Williams).
• Consumer Goods Industries: sectoral branch (headed by Donald Mason).