The OFT's new short-form opinion process: filling a gap in the self-assessment regime?

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Jackie Holland (OFT) has produced The OFT's new short-form opinion process: filling a gap in the self-assessment regime?

ABSTRACT: The OFT's new short-form opinion process was developed in response to concerns expressed by businesses and Government policy makers that some beneficial collaboration agreements were not going ahead for fear of breaching competition law. The lack of recent precedents in a self-assessment world appeared to be resulting in businesses and their advisers adopting a cautious approach at times. It is hoped that the guidance provided in the new short-form opinions goes some way to fill this gap so that competition law is not seen as chilling procompetitive agreements. The first short-form opinion has been published recently.