Judgment of the Tribunal in connection with applications by BMI Healthcare Limited, HCA International Limited and Spire Healthcare Group for review of a decision of the Competition Commission (the “Commission”) to allow access, on terms set out in certain undertakings and rules, to a disclosure room containing certain confidential information relating to the Commission’s private healthcare market investigation. For the reasons set out in the judgment, the Tribunal concluded that the Commission’s rules governing the disclosure room were not fit for the purpose of allowing a proper and informed response to be made to the Commission’s provisional findings. Accordingly, the decision was in breach of the Commission’s statutory duty in section 169 of the Enterprise Act 2002 and in breach of the rules of natural justice.
