Until relatively recently, the implications of a UK competition investigation for individual company directors were limited to inconvenience, potential embarrassment and higher legal bills. At worst, an individual implicated in an infringement could lose his or her job. This is no longer the case. With the trial of the ‘BA four’ only weeks away, it is a good time to consider the risks that now exist for directors of companies implicated in anti-competitive behaviour.
The essential facts are that, on 1 August 2007, the UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) announced that British Airways (BA) had admitted collusion with Virgin Atlantic Airways over long-haul passenger fuel surcharges, contrary to the Competition Act 1998, and had agreed to pay the OFT a penalty of £121.5m.
