The development of British competition law. A complete overhaul and harmonization

The composition of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission

The Commission has always had a full time Chairman, until recently always a

lawyer but now an economist; for some time past it has had several more or less full

time Deputy Chairmen. Apart from that, the members of the Commission, who are

drawn from industry, commerce, the trade unions, the professions and academic life,

are all part-time. The Commission sits in Panels (or Chambers as they might be

called in Germany save that membership of a Panel is established case by case). The

Panels are supported by a full time staff of economists, accountants, lawyers and so

on who do a great deal of the actual work.

In the early years of the life of the Commission the references to it were principally

of old fashioned cartels and monopolies. As I explain later in this lecture, that early

work of the Commission contributed to the hiving off of cartels and many other

restrictive trading arrangements into a new and different legal régime so that they

ceased to be referred to the Commission.