UK’s Supreme Court Will Not Hear Royal Mail Fine Appeal

On Thursday UK’s highest court said it would not hear Royal Mails appeal to a $50M fine imposed by the countries telecom regulator.

In August 2018, Ofcom issued its decision that Royal Mail had infringed the Chapter II prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 102 TFEU. Ofcom found that Royal Mail had abused its dominant position in the market for bulk mail delivery services in the UK by introducing discriminatory pricing. Specifically, Ofcom found that lower prices for wholesale bulk access were not available to access operators that operated their own delivery services.

In October 2018, Royal Mail appealed Ofcom’s decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). The CAT dismissed Royal Mail’s appeal in November 2019, upholding Ofcom’s decision on all grounds, including the financial penalty. Royal Mail sought permission to appeal the judgment to the Court of Appeal. In January 2020, the CAT refused Royal Mail’s application for permission to appeal. Royal Mail was subsequently granted permission by the Court of Appeal to appeal part of the CAT’s judgment. 

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