Welsh Water Allowed to Appeal CAT Decision

The Court of Appeal (Rix, Thomas LJJ) has granted Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water) permission to appeal against two judgments of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in Albion Water Ltd v Water Services Regulation Authority.

The permission is limited to two issues, namely whether:

• the CAT applied the wrong legal test for margin squeeze in its judgments of 6 October 2006 and 18 December 2006
• the CAT had jurisdiction under the Competition Act 1998, Schedule 8, para 3(2) to determine whether Dwr Cymru held a dominant position in a relevant market in the UK in the absence of a prior decision on that issue by Ofwat.

Welsh Water’s application for permission was refused on paper, but was granted following reconsideration of that earlier decision at a hearing end of July 2007.

Christopher Vajda QC and Meredith Pickford represented Welsh Water and Rupert Anderson QC and Valentina Sloane represented OFWAT.

Please click below for more information on:
Meredith Pickford
Valentina Sloane