Competition and Monopolies in UK Law

Mr Carr submits that in many other EU countries those circumstances are regarded as unfair competition. He is probably right about some EU countries, though my general understanding (I could not give chapter and verse) is that in some countries there has been a “rowing back” on what amounts to “unfair competition”. But even if such circumstances amount to unfair competition in some countries, it is surely clear that the concept of “unfair advantage” is an autonomous EU concept.

A second difficulty is that the members of the represented class do not have the same interest in recovering damages for breach of competition law if a defence is available in answer to the claims of some of them, but not to the claims of others: for example, if BA could successfully run a particular defence against those who had passed on the inflated price, but not against others.

A contract in restraint of trade is one in which a party (the covenanter) agrees with any other party (the covenantee) to restrict his liberty in the future to carry on trade with other persons not parties to the contract in such manner as he chooses.

Lastly, good public administration requires decisiveness and finality, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary.