Ofgem and the CAA will share the Enforcement Decision Panel (EDP) set up by Ofgem in 2014

Ofgem and the CAA have today announced that they will share the Enforcement Decision Panel (EDP) set up by Ofgem in 2014, with the CAA having access to the panel for its competition-related regulatory activity.

LONDON, 2016-Apr-28 — /Travel PR News/ — Ofgem and the CAA have today announced that they will share the Enforcement Decision Panel (EDP) set up by Ofgem in 2014, with the CAA having access to the panel for its competition-related regulatory activity.

The EDP was established by Ofgem to take important decisions in enforcement cases – both at the settlement and contested stages of the enforcement process. These decisions can involve imposing financial penalties on companies that break regulatory rules. The EDP has already taken eighteen decisions of this type for Ofgem in the energy sector.

The CAA and Ofgem have now formally agreed to share use of the EDP, with the CAA being able to use the EDP for Competition Act decisions relating to airport operation services and air traffic control. The agreement does not, however, cover other aspects of the CAA’s enforcement activity, such as aviation safety or consumer rights and transparency issues.

John Swift QC, a senior competition lawyer and regulator, is Chair of the EDP. The other seven members of the panel are experienced decision makers from a range of backgrounds, including consumer protection, financial services and competition law.

David Gray, Ofgem Chairman said: “I am delighted that we have been able to make available our Enforcement Decision Panel members to the CAA. The EDP now has a strong track record in taking these decisions and it makes sense to allow one of our fellow economic regulators to take advantage of their expertise”.

Dame Deirdre Hutton, CAA Chair, said: “We are very pleased to now have access to the Enforcement Decision Panel, which extends the enforcement tools we have available when looking to address competition-related issues in the aviation industry. “Sharing this resource with Ofgem also highlights how regulators can work together to deliver our services in the most efficient way, reducing costs for the businesses we regulate and ultimately, their consumers.”

-Ends-

Notes to editors

1. The Enforcement Decision Panel (EDP)

The Enforcement Decision Panel (EDP) was created by Ofgem in 2014 to take decisions on contested cases on behalf of the Ofgem Board. Members of the panel therefore play a crucial role in continuing to deliver Ofgem’s central duty to protect consumers, facilitate competition and ensure the integrity of the wholesale energy market. The EDP will now perform some similar functions for the CAA on behalf of aviation consumers.

The EDP’s decisions will be independent from the investigating team. Neither the Ofgem or CAA Boards will be able to change or overrule EDP decisions.

2. Enforcement

Members of the EDP will be appointed to case decision panels, as needed by the Panel Chair, to hear and take decisions in individual cases put forward by Ofgem and the CAA. Each case decision panel will generally consist of three members, with one nominated as the Chair.

3. About Ofgem

Ofgem is the Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets, which supports the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, the regulator of the gas and electricity industries in Great Britain. The Authority’s functions are set out mainly in the Gas Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1989, the Competition Act 1998 and the Utilities Act 2000. In this note, the functions of the Authority under all the relevant Acts are, for simplicity, described as the functions of Ofgem

4. About the CAA

The CAA is the UK’s specialist aviation regulator. Its regulatory activities range from making sure that the aviation industry meets the highest technical and operational safety standards to preventing holidaymakers from being stranded abroad or losing money because of tour operator insolvency.

More information on the CAA’s work is available at www.caa.co.uk

Chair

John Swift QC has combined private practice with public sector regulation over the whole of his professional career. In private practice he has appeared as Leading Counsel in key cases in the UK and EU, representing both regulators and the private sector. In the public sector he was the Rail Regulator between 1993 and 1998, and from 2009 to 2014 has been a Member of the Cooperation and Competition Panel (now part of Monitor)

Members

Robin Callender Smith is a member and a Deputy Chairman of the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee. A media law and information rights expert, he has worked as a barrister since 1977 after spending four years as a journalist. He is also an Information Rights Judge and an Immigration Judge.

Amelia Fletcher is Professor of Competition Policy at the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia and a Non-Executive Director at the Financial Conduct Authority. She is also an academic advisor to Ofcom and a member of the Oxera Economic Council. She was Chief Economist of the Office of Fair Trading until 2013. In 2014 she was awarded an OBE for services to competition and consumer economics.

Elizabeth France is Chair of the Security Industry Authority, Chair of the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales, a member of the British Transport Police Authority, Deputy Chair of the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee and the PSR’s Enforcement Decisions Committee, Vice President of Aberystwyth University and a member of the General Assembly of Manchester University. She is a former Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive of the Ombudsman Service Ltd., which provided the Energy Ombudsman Service, the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service and the Surveyors Ombudsman Service. In June 2002 she was awarded a CBE for services to data protection.

Trevor Jones has gained over thirty years’ experience in the Financial Services industry at businesses including Barclays Bank and Lloyds Banking Group. He has held a number of senior roles including the leadership of Risk, Financial Crime, Compliance, Audit and Finance functions, as well as shaping the business by driving the Governance and Compliance agendas for UK banks.

Andrew Long is an experienced regulatory decision maker and judge. He has written extensively on regulatory law, including part of a major textbook on financial services regulation. He is currently Chair of the FCA’s Regulatory Decisions Committee, Chair of the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator and Panel Chair for the Access Disputes Committee (of the regulated rail industry). His main career was as a partner at Pinsent Masons solicitors, where he led the financial services regulation practice.

Jonathan May has been closely involved in the development of utility regulation, competition and consumer policy and practice since the mid-1990s. He was an Executive Director at the Office of Fair Trading until 2010. Since 2011 he has been a member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Financial Services Consumer Panel and, until March this year, a board member of Consumer Futures.

Stuart McIntosh is a member of the FCA’s and the PSR’s Competition Decision Committees, a member of the PSR’s Enforcement Decisions Committee, a senior adviser to KPMG’s Economics and Regulatory Practice (on issues in the Communications Sector), and a member of the ManSat Advisory Board. Between 2008 and 2014 Stuart was Group Director, Competition, at Ofcom, the UK Communications Regulator, and an executive member of the Ofcom Board. Prior to Ofcom, Stuart held senior executive or partner positions in several major organisations including IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and British Telecom.

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