Diary

Diary

03 November 2010 - merger notified with the Competition Commission

11 February 2011 - The Competition Commission filed its recommendations with the Competition Tribunal

18 February 2011 - First pre-hearing

22 March 2011 - The hearing was meant to proceed on this day but the three government departments brought an application for the matter to be postponed to allow them to bring a discovery application and prepare an expert witness statement. After meeting with the parties, the Tribunal directed the testimony of factual witnesses would be heard in that week ( 23-25 March) and that expert witnesses for the merging parties would be heard in May. After giving this direction, counsel for the trade unions applied for a stay to review the Tribunal decision arguing that its case would be prejudiced if it proceeded on a piece meal basis. The merging parties opposed the stay whilst other parties left the matter to the Tribunal to decide. The Tribunal indicated that it was reluctant for the matter to proceed without an adverse party before it to cross examine witnesses and adjourned the entire hearing till 9 May, but directed that the discovery application of the government departments be heard on 25 March. A pre-hearing was then held to determine the timetable for filing of discovery application documents.

The merging parties indicated that they were considering reviewing the decision to adjourn proceedings. No review was brought.

25 March 2011 - The Tribunal heard the discovery application and directed the merging parties to make discovery of certain documents by 16h00 on 05 April 2011. Should they not have those documents in their possession they must furnish affidavits in this regard.

9-13 May 2011 - hearing on evidence from parties

16 May 2011 - hearing on closing arguments