Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority investigations (FOI)

Request

Please provide all information, correspondence and documentation available in relation to the below questions:

A

How many potential breaches of the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005 did JCRA investigate in 2016?

B

Of the cases investigated (as above), how many concluded with a decision that there was a breach of the Competition (Jersey) Law?

C

Of the cases where a decision was made that there had been a breach of the Competition (Jersey) Law (as above), how many cases received a financial penalty as a sanction?

D

How many financial penalties were levied in 2016, and in what amount, and how many have been paid?

E

How much did it cost to investigate all suspected breaches of Competition (Jersey) Law in 2016, to include the legal fees paid to external lawyers?

F

How much has JCRA had to pay in respect of the legal costs of parties being investigated?

G

At page 29 of the CICRA Annual Report for 2016 it sets out that £288,571 was incurred in expenditure for the payment of legal and professional fees by JCRA, please provide a breakdown of legal and professional fees incurred and / or paid by JCRA?

H

Has the JCRA received any specific funding over the course of 2016 and 2017 in connection with its involvement in the investigation of suspected breaches of the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005?

I

Has the JCRA received any specific funding over the course of 2016 and 2017 in relation to a challenge made against a decision taken by JCRA?

J

If the answer to (H) and / or (I) above is yes, who provided the funding, and how much was provided?

Response

A to H

The Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) is an independent body corporate established under the Competition Regulatory Authority (Jersey) Law 2001.

Article 1 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the Law) defines a "public authority" for the purpose of the Law. A number of descriptions of entities that may be covered are set out. However, the obligations of the Law only apply to Scheduled Public Authorities (ie those entities that are listed in Schedule 1 of the Law). The JCRA is not listed in Schedule 1 and is therefore not covered by the obligations of the Law.

The JCRA receives a grant of £300,000 from the States to carry out all the duties it has under the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005. This grant is applied by the JCRA across the range of activities required by the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005. The States does receive some information from the JCRA in general terms in relation to the use of the grant and for the purposes of managing the States relationship with the JCRA.

Following a file review, information on items a to h is not held but information may be available on the JCRA’s website at:

https://www.cicra.gg/

I and J

The information you have requested on items I and J is exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 because the information is already accessible to you by other means. The information is the subject of a Ministerial Decision on 2016 year end carry forwards available at the following location:

2016 Year-End Carry Forwards

Exemption applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.