Tougher Antitrust Penalties For Company Directors

The OFT has announced that it is considering widening its use of competition disqualification orders (CDOs).

Directors of all companies should take note of this proposed tougher stance. At present (and as set out in the OFT's 2003 Guidance) company directors are in practice only likely to face disqualification for breach of competition law if they are found to have personal responsibility for their companies' contravention of the competition rules.

The OFT wants to change this. Note that no changes in the law are required for the OFT to pursue directors with increased rigour. The court's powers already exist. The OFT is simply looking at ways of enhancing company and board competition compliance and explaining how it intends to go about this.