Leading Competition law set Monckton Chambers has formally launched a Merger Control Group, offering the full range of merger control services to its client base.

As one of the leading commercial sets at the Bar to host a stellar cast of competition law practitioners, Monckton Chambers has always been a first port of call for many city solicitors seeking merger control advice and, where necessary, representation before specialist courts and tribunals.

The recent addition of Alistair Lindsay, who joined the 50 strong set last October from Allen & Overy where he was a Partner for seven years, has considerably strengthened the set’s merger control capabilities. Lindsay comments as follows

“We’re now offering a full merger control service, including dealing with any appeals and managing multi-jurisdictional filings.”

The new service will be targeted to an array of clients including full service law firms but particularly to city and international law firms without a dedicated merger control team in London as well as to General Counsel who can instruct the Bar directly. The set’s Senior Clerk, David Hockney, comments:

“This is new territory for the Bar and reflects the fact that sets now need to think of alternative ways to attract work particularly in light of the forthcoming Legal Services Act.  We’re selling an end-to-end service from market-leading practitioners at competitive rates: it’s very compelling.”

The set’s Head of Chambers, Paul Lasok QC commented:

“There’s not many big-ticket deals at the moment because of financing issues and market volatility; but often it’s the smaller transactions that raise the most difficult merger control issues and the current uncertainties about growth and public spending are likely to encourage these.”

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George Peretz
Alistair Lindsay
Ben Rayment

Melanie Hall QC addressed the London Branch of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (ICOT) on Tuesday 29 June speaking on where to draw the line between legitimate planning and abuse.  Her talk included an update on Halifax following the recent hearing at the Court of Justice for the European Union of Weald Leasing.

The CIOT has a strong committee structure which carries out original work on such subjects as the study of tax legislation, international relations in the taxation field and tax training.

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Melanie Hall QC

Case C-58/08 – Vodafone and others

This reference was made in proceedings between Vodafone, O2 Europe, T-Mobile, Orange and the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform concerning the validity of provisions for the implementation of Regulation No 717/2007 adopted by the UK and Northern Ireland relating to the prices payable by users of public mobile telephone networks for retail roaming services,

The regulation lays down maximum charges that mobile phone operators may charge for calls made and received by users outside their own network.  The regulation also imposes a ceiling for wholesale roaming charges – the price paid by the consumer’s network to the foreign network which that consumer uses.

The leading European mobile telephone operators challenged the validity of the regulation before the High Court.  The High Court asked the Court of Justice whether the Community was entitled to adopt the regulation on the basis of Article 95 EC which permits the community to adopt legislative measures in order to approximate the laws of the Member States in cases of disparity or potential disparity capable of obstructing the establishment and functioning of the internal market, and whether, by setting the maximum retail price, the Community legislature had infringed the principles of subsidiarity and/or proportionality.

The Court found that the object of the regulation is to improve the conditions for the functioning of the internal market and that it could be adopted on the basis of Article 95 EC.

With regards the proportionality of the regulation in so far as it does not only lay down ceilings for wholesale charges but also for retail charges, the Court found that maximum retail charges could be considered to be appropriate and necessary for the purpose of protecting consumers against high levels of charges.

The Court examined the regulation in the light of the principle of subsidiarity, according to which the Community may not act unless the Member States are not in a position to achieve the same goal adequately.  The Court concluded that, give the interdependence of retail and wholesale charges, the community legislature could legitimately take the view that a common approach at Community level was necessary to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market, thus allowing operators to act within a single coherent regulatory framework.

Jon Turner QC and Tim Ward represented the United Kingdom

Ronit Kreisberger represented Vodafone

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Jon Turner QC
Tim Ward QC
Ronit Kreisberger

A transatlantic coalition of environmental groups was today given permission to intervene in an action at the High Court to defend Europe’s right to tackle carbon emissions from aircraft that fly into and out of Europe.

The coalition, consisting of three US-based organisations, the Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice, and the Center for Biological Diversity, as well as WWF-UK, Transport & Environment, and the Aviation Environment Federation in Europe, is intervening in a Judicial Review being sought by several US airlines – United, Continental and American – and their trade association, the Air Transport Association of America (ATA).

The airlines allege that the extension of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to cover emissions from aviation activities is incompatible with international law.  In particular, they allege it is incompatible with the EU-US open skies agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation 1994, and customary international law.

The environmental groups, together with the Secretary of State for Climate Change, oppose that case.

The matter will shortly be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The environmental groups are represented by Jon Turner QC, Kassie Smith, and Laura Elizabeth John.

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Jon Turner QC
Kassie Smith QC
Laura Elizabeth John

NEIL HERRON PARKING APPEALS LIMITED v THE PARKING ADJUDICATOR and SUNDERLAND CITY COUNCIL (1) PARKING AND TRAFFIC APPEALS SERVICE (2) TRAFFIC PENALTY TRIBUNAL (3) NCP SERVICES LIMITED (4) SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT (5) (as Interested Parties)

Mr Justice Bean

[2010] EWHC 1161 (Admin)

The Administrative Court today rejected a widely-publicised challenge brought by motoring campaigners who sought judicial review of the decisions of the Parking Adjudicator. At an earlier hearing, Keith J had dismissed a challenge to the independence of the parking adjudication system under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. They also sought a declaration that a Sunderland city-wide Controlled Parking Zone (“CPZ”) does not comply with Regulation 4 and Direction 25 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 and that all single yellow line waiting restrictions contained within it are unenforceable.

The judgment of Mr Justice Bean distinguishes a series of cases dealing with defects in “signs and lines” (traffic signs and carriageway markings). The Judge expressly approved the approach developed by the Parking Adjudicator in its case law dealing with challenges to defects in signs and lines, which held that where the defect was in a different location from the one where the motorist had parked it could be treated as immaterial. The Judge stated, “Any non-compliance is immaterial if it is too far from the location of the particular motorist’s contravention to have led him or her into error.”

Dealing with the principle of statutory interpretation that penal statutes are to be construed strictly, the Judge observed that a statutory provision which permits the issue of a penalty charge notice must be construed strictly, in the sense that where there is a genuine ambiguity in the language used the motorist is entitled to the benefit of the doubt in interpreting it. But that does not mean that it has to be construed so literally as to produce an absurd result.

The statutory definition of a CPZ was held to mean that every part of every road in a CPZ, other than a parking bay, must be marked with a single or double yellow line, except where an alternative parking prohibition is marked out (such as that imposed by the zig-zags on the approach to a pedestrian crossing).

The Judge concluded that Mr Herron’s argument was “entirely based on technicality and utterly devoid of merit”, the Parking Adjudicator had not erred in law and the challenges to 54 penalty charge notices were rightly rejected.

Ian Rogers appeared throughout the proceedings for the Parking Adjudicator, instructed by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

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Ian Rogers

A nine-strong Monckton Chambers team competed in the Oxford Town and Gown 10k Race last Sunday to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.  Monckton Man of the Race was Alistair Lindsay who came 11th out of a field of over 3000.

A nine-strong Monckton Chambers team competed in the Oxford Town and Gown 10k Race last Sunday to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.  Monckton Man of the Race was Alistair Lindsay who came 11th out of a field of over 3000.

Monckton Chambers have been shortlisted as ‘Chambers of the Year’ at The Lawyer Awards 2010.

This year’s awards ceremony will be held at Grosvenor House, Park Lane London on 22 June.

The First Tier Information Tribunal has heard an appeal by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs against a Decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office on 2 November 2009 that it must release all information requested by the Campaign for Clean Air in London (CCAL) on 22 January 2009.

CCAL’s original request was for:
“…a copy of any minutes, papers, correspondence or other material relating directly to any meeting (including sent subsequent to it) that takes places between Lord Hunt and Mayor Johnson.  I believe the meeting may include discussions about the western extension of the congestion charging zone and air quality”.

CCAL’s barristers asked the Information Tribunal to reject the Government’s attempt to rely on exemptions in the Environmental Information Regulations which it had failed to raise before the Information Commissioner or in its original decision.     The Government admitted there was no particular justification for its failure to raise the exemptions earlier in the process, or why the Tribunal should consider themnow.  Instead, it argued the Tribunal was obliged to consider any exemption that may be applicable, whether it had been raised previously or not.  The Tribunal ruled within minutes that the Government was not allowed to run the new arguments.

As a result, the Government accepted  that it “does not have much of an appeal left” and said it intends to seek permission to appeal the Tribunal’s ruling.

The Tribunal will publish written reasons for its decision before the end of this week after which the Government is expected to lodge formally its application for permission to appeal.  If the appeal is granted, it would be heard by the Upper Tier of the Information Tribunal. In the meantime, the remainder of the proceedings are stayed.

Simon Birkett, Founder of CCAL, said:
“Finally, CCAL wishes to thank again its legal team comprising leading barristers, Gerry Facenna and Laura Elizabeth John, and Phil Michaels Head of Legal at Friends of the Earth.  Without this tremendous legal team, CCAL would never have been able to win this case.”

The Commission was represented by Ben Lask.

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Gerry Facenna
Ben Lask
Laura Elizabeth John

The members and staff of Chambers are deeply saddened to confirm the sudden death of Ian Hutton on 1 May 2010.  He leaves behind many friends and will be sorely missed by us all.

There will be a memorial service at Lincoln’s Inn Old Hall from 5.00pm on Wednesday 26 May.  Please attend to bear witness.