Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority: Appointment of Board Members

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A decision made on 6 August 2012:

Decision Reference: MD-E-2012-0090
Decision Summary Title :	Appointment of Michael Byrne and Louise Read to the Board of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA)		Date of Decision Summary:	2nd August 2012
Decision Summary Author:	Strategy Manager, Economic Development Department		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Appointment of Michael Byrne and Louise Read to the JCRA Board		Date of Written Report:	2nd August 2012
Written Report Author:	Strategy Manager, Economic Development Department		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority: Appointment of Board Members – Mr Michael Byrne and Mrs Louise Read
Decision(s): The Minister appointed Mr Michael Byrne and Mrs Louise Read to the Board of the JCRA under powers conferred by Article 3(1)(b) of the Competition Regulatory Authority (Jersey) Law 2001. The period of appointment is 24th July 2012 until 23rd July 2017. The Minister agreed to notify the States of the appointments in accordance with Article 3 of the Law.
Reason(s) for Decision: The Minister must appoint members of the JCRA Board after having first discussed such appointment with the Chairman of the Authority.
Resource Implications: The Authority is funded via licence fees and a grant from the Department to administer the Competition Law. No additional funding or resources are required as a consequence of this decision.
Action required: Report to be presented to the States Assembly to inform members of the appointment of Mr Byrne and Mrs Read in accordance with Article 3 of the Law. Inform the JCRA that the Minister is content to appoint Mr Byrne and Mrs Read and request that they prepare the necessary paperwork.
Signature: Senator I.J.Gorst		Position: Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority: Appointment of Board Members

Report

Appointment of Andrew Riseley and Louise Read to the Board of the JCRA under Article 3(1)(b) of the Competition and Regulatory Authority (Jersey) Law 2001 (the Law).

Under Article 3(3) Law, the Minister is required to notify the States of appointments of members of the Jersey Competition and Regulatory Authority (JCRA).

After consultation with the Chairman of the JCRA (Mr Mark Boleat), the Minister has appointed Mr Michael Byrne and Mrs Louise Read to the Board of the JCRA, with effect from 24th July 2012 for five-year terms (in accordance with Article 4 (2) of the Law), until 23rd July 2017.

Michael Byrne is a regulatory economist who has extensive experience applying regulatory and competition powers in the UK energy, media and telecoms sectors. He joined the Guernsey Office of Utility Regulation (OUR) in May 2005, and was appointed to the position of Deputy Director General in December 2007. Prior to joining the OUR he headed Retail Competition at Ofgem, where he led the UK’s first Super-complaint investigation. He also has considerable experience in the media and telecoms sectors using competition powers to carry out various investigations. During his time at the Independent Television Commission he was part of a small regulatory team that oversaw the transition of pay TV to digital technology, developing the code on Electronic Programme Guides and undertaking a range of competition investigations in the pay TV and cable sectors. He has advised the OFT and Competition Commission on various merger cases. His experience covers micro and macro economics, and before his relocation to the UK he was chief statistician at a consultancy in the dairy industry in South Africa.

Mr Byrne holds a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Warwick. He has a post graduate qualification from Kings College, London, in European Competition Law as well as an OFT accredited qualification from the University of Nottingham Trent in UK Competition Law. He holds a first class honours Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Natal, South Africa, and a Bachelor of Science degree studying Statistics, Economics and Mathematics from the same university.

As Finance and Operations Manager for the JCRA, Mrs Read has overseen the appointment process for the Chief Executive and for the Non-Executive Members of the Board, therefore avoiding the need to employ consultants. She has been almost wholly responsible for the integration of the Jersey and Guernsey organisations. She has a major role in developing strategy and has increasingly been involved in the policy side of the work and in stakeholder engagement. She also adds a valuable local perspective to some of the issues the JCRA deals with.

On 24th July 2012, the Commerce & Employment Board in Guernsey unanimously approved the appointment of Mr Byrne and Mrs Read as members of the GCRA. Given that the JCRA and GCRA now share a common board, the Minister and the Chairman feel that it is essential that there be uniformity in their board structures.

Due to the unavoidable absence of the Economic Development Minister, this decision has been made by the Chief Minister.

2nd August 2012