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UK: CMA enforcement chief vows to be tougher on cartels

By  |  November 12, 2015

The new director of enforcement at the Competition and Markets Authority has said he has “high profile cases in the pipeline” as he vowed to focus on more individuals and even to disqualify directors who violate cartel law.

Michael Grenfell, who took on the role in mid-July, told the Financial Times in his first interview that the CMA would take a harder line on cartel cases after the antitrust agency lost a contested criminal prosecution.

The CMA would look to go after individuals as a deterrent, he said, and could use its power to disqualify directors who violated cartel law but did not meet the bar for criminal prosecution.

“The power has been there, it is a fact that it hasn’t been used. That is part of our armoury and that is a possible consequence with non-compliance of competition law,” Mr Grenfell said. “We are serious about tackling anti-competitive agreements, to doing more and more quickly because of the necessity to protect consumers.”

Full content: The Financial Times

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