Judgment of the Tribunal in relation to an application by John Lewis plc (“JLP”) under section 179 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (“the Act”) for review of a decision of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) in relation to the content of a price comparison website (“the Website”) relating to extended warranties (“EWs”) for domestic electrical goods.
For the reasons set out in the judgment, the Tribunal dismissed JLP’s application for review. In particular, the Tribunal concluded that the decision that JLP was seeking to challenge was, in reality, made by the OFT on 27 June 2012, on which date the OFT published its decision in relation to the market investigation reference regarding EWs, and accepted undertakings from certain retailers in lieu of a reference to the Competition Commission (“the UIL”).
Accordingly, to the extent that two of JLP’s grounds of review relate, in reality, to the decision made on 27 June 2012, JLP’s application for review is brought outside the time limit set out in rule 27 of the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2003 (SI 2003/2372). JLP’s further ground of review, namely that the OFT was in breach of its duties under sections 162 and 167(6) of the Act in relation to the implementation of the UIL, was dismissed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal concluded that the UIL were being implemented in accordance with their terms, such that no breach could be identified.
