The UK Supreme Court issues a judgment which provides guidance on how the CAT may consider the question of certification for collective proceedings (Merricks / Mastercard)

The Future of collective proceedings in the UK In the Supreme Court’s leading judgment in Merricks, the concept of relative suitability was found to be a key consideration in deciding whether to certify proposed collective proceedings. [1] This involves determining whether a case is more suitable to be brought as collective proceedings compared to the alternate reality that would prevail absent certification. [2] When consideringcertification in future, it may therefore be helpful for the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to explore, amongst other legal and factual issues, what this alternate reality might look like and whether certification represents a more or less suitable means of managing the relevant claims. [3] The Supreme Court reached a view on this issue in Merricks that was