Ruling of the Tribunal concerning the disclosure in the proceedings of third party information in the possession of the OFT which related to the calculation of penalty but which had been redacted from the published version of the OFT decision.
The Tribunal noted that, pursuant to schedule 4 of the Enterprise Act 2002, it should have regard to the need for excluding, so far as was possible, disclosure of information which would significantly harm the legitimate business interests of the undertaking to which it relates. In that regard, the Tribunal observed that the third parties who had not consented to the disclosure of their information had not explained why such disclosure might significantly harm their legitimate business interests, other than by stating in broad terms that disclosure of their turnover figures might enable competitors to gain insights into their strategy and business plan.
The Tribunal held that disclosure of the redacted material should be allowed as it was relevant to the issues before the Tribunal, but that the disclosure would be limited to the external advisers of the appellants.
