In brief: Competition law reform paper welcomed

Director General of Fair Trading John Bridgeman has welcomed the Government's Green Paper on competition law reform, saying legislation on cartels was the "most deficient part of the UK's competition laws". The consultation paper, Tackling cartels and the abuse of market power: implementing the Government's policy for competition law reform, was issued by the Department of Trade and Industry last week. Bridgeman said: "The elimination of bid-rigging, price-fixing and market-sharing agreements has to be the top priority for any competition authority". He said strengthening his powers to uncover cartels and deal with abuse of market power was welcome and overdue.