Judgment of the Tribunal in connection with an appeal by Electro Rent Corporation (“Electro Rent”) pursuant to section 114 of the Enterprise Act 2002 against a decision of the Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) of 11 June 2018 (the “Decision”) to impose a penalty of £100,000 on Electro Rent for failure to comply with an interim order dated 7 November 2017 (the “Interim Order”) by issuing on 16 March 2018 a notice to exercise a break option (the “Break Notice”) terminating the lease for Electro Rent’s premises in the UK.
In summary, for the reasons given in the Judgment, the Tribunal upheld the Decision. Specifically, the Tribunal dismissed Electro Rent’s arguments that: (a) the CMA erred in finding that Electro Rent did not have a reasonable excuse for any breach of the Interim Order by reason of service of the Break Notice; and (b) the penalty imposed by the CMA was excessive and should be reduced to nil or a nominal sum.
