In a unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has the power to require overseas companies to produce documents and information when it is investigating suspected anti-competitive conduct.
In December 2022, the CMA imposed a fixed penalty of £30,000 and a daily penalty of £15,000 on BMW AG for failing to comply with an information request issued as part of a competition law investigation involving the car manufacturer.
Both BMW AG and VW AG - which was also subject to a formal information request - issued legal challenges. When a combined judgment from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and the High Court found in favour of the firms, the CMA took the case to the Court of Appeal and has today won on all grounds.
The Court of Appeal stated that the CMA's ability to conduct competition investigations would be compromised were it unable to obtain information from overseas, saying it would create "a perverse incentive for conspirators to move offshore to organise cartels directed at harming the United Kingdom market".
The Court of Appeal also found that nothing in "logic, policy, case law or legislative history" supported the restrictive interpretation adopted by the CAT and High Court.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said:
We are very pleased with today's important ruling which confirms that the CMA can secure information from overseas businesses when investigating suspected breaches of competition law.
Our cases increasingly involve cross-border, multi-national businesses and information requests are a key tool by which we can investigate whether those businesses have been engaged in unlawful conduct.
Today's unanimous judgment strengthens the CMA's ability to investigate, enforce against and deter any anti-competitive conduct that harms consumers, businesses and markets in the UK.
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