COMPETITION
COMMISSION News Release (42/07) issued by The Government News
Network on 13 July 2007
The Competition
Commission (CC) has published an issues statement as part of its
statutory review of the CAA's proposed price controls for
Heathrow and Gatwick airports, which will govern how much the
airports' owner, BAA, can charge airlines during the
five-year period beginning April 2008 .
The CC is carrying out a review of these price controls as well
as examining whether the airport owner has pursued any conduct
during the last five years which has operated against the public
interest. The CC's review must report back to the CAA by
September 29 2007, which will then consider the CC's
recommendations before carrying out a final round of consultation
and announcing a final decision in March 2008.
The issues statement follows the initial process of gathering
information, views and evidence and summarises the main issues to
be considered in the remaining stages of the inquiry, in order to
give any interested parties the opportunity to provide any further
comments, not only on this document but also on any of the
material on the CC's website. A number of submissions have
already been published at:
http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/inquiries/ref2007/heathrow/index.htm
The full issues statement is available at http://www.competition-commission.org.uk
and looks at questions relating to the structure of the price
control; those relevant to the maximum level of charges as
determined by the charging formulae such as capital expenditure,
regulatory asset base, cost of capital, depreciation, operating
expenditure, other revenue and traffic forecasts; and public
interest issues.
The issues statement should not be seen as implying that the CC
has reached any conclusions on the issues in this inquiry. The
purpose of making the statement of issues public is to inform all
interested parties and give them an opportunity to raise any
further points with the CC.
The CC is also carrying a market
inquiry into the supply of airport services by BAA and will issue
an issues statement on that inquiry in the next few weeks.
Anyone wishing to comment on the issues statement should do so by
emailing airports@cc.gsi.gov.uk or by writing to the Inquiry
Secretary (Heathrow/Gatwick price review), Competition Commission,
Victoria House, Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AD.
Notes for editors
1. The CC is an independent public body, which carries out
investigations into mergers, markets, and the regulated industries.
2. The members of the inquiry group are: Christopher Clarke
(Group Chairman and CC Deputy Chairman), Laura Carstensen, Dr John
Collings, Professor Jonathan Haskel, Richard Holroyd, Professor
Peter Moizer and Professor Sudi Sudarsanam.
3. Further information on the CC and its procedures, including
its policy on the provision of information and the disclosure of
evidence, can be obtained from its website at: http://www.competition-commission.org.uk.