WIREDGOV

The Competition Commission has yesterday published an issues statement as part of its market investigation into the supply of aggregates, cement and ready mix concrete in Great Britain (see Notes).

The Office of Fair Trading referred the market to the Competition Commission (CC) for investigation in January this year. The CC is now carrying out its own comprehensive investigation, to see if there are any features of this markets which prevent, restrict or distort competition and, if so, what action might be taken to remedy them.

The issues statement identifies clearly for all interested parties the key questions which the inquiry is examining and its approach to these; interested parties will be able to focus their submissions and evidence on those key questions. The issues statement does not imply that the Inquiry Group has yet identified any competition concerns.

The full issues statement is available on the aggregates market home page along with all other information relating to the investigation.

The CC is required to report by 17 January 2014 and is currently consulting on a draft timetable (PDF, 36 Kb)  for the investigation.

Any interested party is invited to respond to the issues statement in writing by 10 April 2012.

To submit evidence, please email aggregates@cc.gsi.gov.uk or write to:

Inquiry Manager
Aggregates market investigation
Competition Commission
Victoria House
Southampton Row
LONDON
WC1B 4AD

Notes for editors

1. The CC is an independent public body, which carries out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries.

2. The OFT decided against referring the markets in Northern Ireland for investigation.

3. The members of the aggregates market investigation group are: Professor Martin Cave (Chairman of the Inquiry Group), Roger Davis, Phil Evans, Professor Thomas Hoehn and Malcolm Nicholson.

4. Under the Enterprise Act 2002, the OFT can make a market investigation reference to the CC if it has reasonable grounds for suspecting that competition for the supply or acquisition of certain goods or services is not working effectively.

5. In its inquiry, the CC is required to decide whether ‘any feature, or combination of features, of each relevant market prevents, restricts or distorts competition in connection with the supply or acquisition of any goods or services in the United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom’. If so, then there is an adverse effect on competition and the CC will also consider whether this is resulting in a detrimental effect on customers such as higher prices, lower quality or less choice of goods or services. The CC will then decide whether the CC should introduce remedies to tackle the adverse effect on competition or detrimental effect on customers or whether the CC should recommend action be taken by other bodies to remedy the adverse effects on competition, and if so, what actions or remedies should be taken. If the CC finds that there is no adverse effect on competition, the question of remedies will not arise.

6. The Enterprise Act 2002 requires the CC to consult the main parties on its proposed decisions and it will also publish notice of its provisional findings on the CC website as required by its rules. Full details on the CC’s guidelines for market investigation references are available on the CC website: www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/rules_and_guide/pdf/cc3.pdf.

7. Enquiries should be directed to Rory Taylor or Siobhan Allen or by ringing 020 7271 0242