Water mergers: Ofwat's response
This entry was added to http://www.reckon.co.uk/headlines-franckblog on 2 November 2004.
The discussion of proportionality was substantially amended on 27 October 2005.
Full blog table of contents available at Contents | viewpoint: Franck.
Ofwat has published its response to the Competition Commission's consultation on water mergers. The short document is available from the Ofwat website (see links).
Beside raising a few concerns about wording and apparent inaccuracies in the CC's draft about Ofwat's duties and price control methodology, Ofwat makes the following points:
- "Comparative competition used effectively is a powerful tool for improving and maintaining performance" etc.
- Ofwat considers it "unhelpful" for the guidelines to highlight that the new "prejudice to the DGWS's ability to make comparisons" test (erroneously described as a "prejudice to comparators" test by Ofwat) is different from the old "qualified" public interest test.
- Ofwat queries the CC's use of the word proportionality outside the context of community law, and whether it is the CC's intended policy to use a proportionality concept in cases without a community dimension.
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Links
Reckon commentary on some aspects of the CC's draft guidelines:
Article available from http://www.reckon.co.uk/freepub.html.
See also Reckon Open "Water mergers" for supporting information and links.
Ofwat's response can be found at:
http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/aptrix/ofwat/pu…oc/$FILE/cc_watermerger_cons.doc
The CC's consultation draft guidelines on water mergers are available from:
http://www.competition-commission.org.u…pub/consultations/past/index.htm
The CC's general mergers guidelines are at:
http://www.competition-commission.org.u…/15073compcommguidance2final.pdf
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Last changed by Franck at 8:57 PM on Friday 4 November 2005.