Judgment on an appeal brought by the appellants against a decision of the OFT contained in a letter of 9 August 2002 to the effect that certain conduct on the part of the intervener (“Wiseman”) in relation to the supply of milk to “middle ground” customers in Scotland did not, on the evidence available, infringe the Chapter II prohibition contained in section 18 of the Competition Act 1998. That letter was supplemented by a witness statement of 13 May 2003 following the Tribunal’s judgment declaring the appeal to be admissible: [2003] CAT 3. The appellants had complained that Wiseman had engaged in predatory pricing, targeted discriminatory pricing and exclusionary contracting.
The Tribunal set aside the decision on the basis of serious doubts as to the adequacy of the OFT’s investigation into (i) Wiseman’s average total costs and average variable costs, and (ii) Wiseman’s arrangements with certain customers (the offering of “All of Scotland” contracts). Given the historical nature of the dispute, however, the Tribunal did not remit the matter to the OFT.
