The UK OFT ramps up company directors’ responsibility for competition law compliance

On 18 August 2009, the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) published a consultation on significant proposed changes to its guidance on the adoption of competition disqualification orders (CDOs) against company directors. The OFT's proposed changes present a significantly more aggressive approach in seeking to force directors to take greater responsibility than they may at present to ensure that their companies comply with competition law. These changes are driven in part by the results of research carried out for the OFT that found that director disqualification comes second only to jail terms as a deterrent to competition law breaches. For the reasons explained below, the proposals, if adopted and implemented, are likely in particular to make shadow and non-executive directors take a closer