Competition Compliance and Advisory
Applying competition law to your everyday activities
Competition law impacts on every aspect of a business’s commercial operations. The aim is to ensure that businesses compete on a level playing field, and that there are protections in place for those that suffer from others acting unfairly.
Competition law also aims to encourage businesses to innovate and improve for the benefits of their customers.
Understanding competition law not only allows you to be compliant in your own activities, but also to identify non-compliance in others and challenge it as appropriate.
The penalties for non-compliance can be significant: civil fines, regulatory infringement decisions, private damages actions, reputational harm and, in certain circumstances, criminal prosecutions.
- Commercial advisory
- Supply chain and distribution
- Competitor cooperation
- Conduct by dominant companies
- IP licensing
- Compliance programmes
How can I support you?
Commercial advisory: I support clients in understanding the impact of competition rules on day-to-day operations, business decisions, growth strategies and relationship management.
Supply chain and distribution: I advise on the impact of competition law on supply chain issues such as distribution, sales and marketing arrangements, including pricing policies and specific models such as franchising, agency and selective and exclusive distribution. I have advised clients on these issues in various sectors including manufacturing, retail, food services, hospitality, hotels, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics in relation to both physical and online activities.
Competitor cooperation: I assist clients in understanding the parameters of legitimate cooperation between competitors. This includes providing guidelines for interactions at trade association meetings and supporting the design of arrangements for R&D collaboration.
Conduct by dominant companies: I work with companies to assess their market position and, where necessary, adapt activities to comply with the ‘disciplines of dominance’. I also advise clients that are victims of abusive market conduct on the options for challenge, including supporting them through regulatory complaints and other forms of dispute resolution.
IP licensing: I advise on the interaction of intellectual property rules with competition law, including the licensing, management and enforcement of those rights.
Compliance programmes: I carry out antitrust audits to help clients identify any current or potential infringements of competition rules, and designs, drafts and implements competition compliance policies and procedures, including dawn raid defence systems, in a range of sectors and different sized businesses. I also routinely provide bespoke competition compliance training.
