Competition Commission backtracks on Inde fine
Robins: won first David vs Goliath battle.
Northcliffe Newspapers has welcomed the ruling by the Competition Commission to overturn the decision by the Office of Fair Trading to fine them £1.3m after being found guilty of price fixing, an allegation made last year by Paul Robins, manager at Aberdeen Journals.The seven-month-long appeal was overturned by the Competition Commission after finding that the Office of Fair Trading's complaint of the Aberdeen Journals' dominance in the marketplace was not recognised. The Commission went on to say that "The tribunal emphasises that this judgment does not imply any finding by the tribunal as to whether Aberdeen Journals has, or has not, a dominant place in any relevant market, and still less whether any such dominant position has been abused."
A spokesman for Northcliffe Newspapers commented, "Aberdeen Journals is disappointed that the Tribunal has given the Office of Fair Trading the option to re-assess the case in relation to the definition of local media market conditions in Aberdeen. Northcliffe regards competition issues as of fundamental importance and has taken measures to ensure compliance with competition legislation across the group".
At the time of going to press the Press and Journal was unavailable for comment.