Judgment of the Tribunal on an appeal brought by Achilles Paper Group Limited (“Achilles”) in respect of the amount of the penalty imposed on it in the OFT’s decision finding that Achilles, together with two other undertakings, had infringed the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 by being a party to an agreement and/or concerted practice designed to fix the prices for the sale of stock check pads.
The only issue in the appeal was whether the OFT should have reduced the penalty imposed to take account of Achilles’ alleged financial hardship.
The Tribunal dismissed the appeal in its entirety.
The Tribunal concluded that a principle that the OFT must limit the fines it imposes under the Competition Act 1998 in order to maintain a certain number of competitors in a relevant market would be unworkable. The OFT’s consideration of how to balance the need for fines to operate as an effective deterrent against the possibility of adverse effects on the structure of the market as a result of those fines is a consideration that is within the OFT’s margin of appreciation.
