Mark Daniels: Hi Richard, great to see you
again.
Richard Whish KC: Hello.
Mark Daniels: So, today we are talking about
the CMA's recent no grounds for action decision in a case
concerning suspected bid-rigging. And, actually, a case that raises
an interesting point about the dangers around misleading
communications sent by employees. But, before we get on to all of
that, perhaps you could just start by explaining what is a no
grounds for action decision and how does that differ to the other
ways that the CMA can conclude an investigation?
Richard Whish KC: Well, it's interesting
isn't it? So, a competition authority is doing a case, what are
the possibilities? One is that it adopts an infringement decision
and imposes fines, where appropriate. Then you can get so-called
settlement decisions which, of course, are infringement decisions,
but they arise in cases where the defendant or defendants put their
hands in the air and say, yes, we admit it, we did it,
