Competition law

Ogier has one of the largest competition law teams in the Channel Islands and has arguably been involved in more merger approval and exemption application filings than any other team in the Channel Islands.

Our clients include financial institutions, well known global organisations, and businesses local to the Channel Islands.

Competition law in each island is subject to its own legislation and its own regulator - the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (JCRA) and the Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority (GCRA), which operate under the collective name of the Channel Island Competition and Regulatory Authorities (CICRA).

CICRA regulates the three main pillars of competition law - anti-competitive agreements, abuses of a dominant position and mergers and acquisitions. Of these, it is the third pillar that gives rise to most concerns for our clients due to the increase in mergers and acquisitions we are seeing with a Jersey and/or Guernsey nexus.

Our experts can help clients to understand the differences between the jurisdictional thresholds for notifiable transactions in Jersey and Guernsey - Jersey applies a share of supply or purchase test and Guernsey a turnover test - and that the merger approval regimes are mandatory and suspensory.

Furthermore, in addition to CICRA's powers to levy behavioural, structural and financial remedies, notifiable transactions relating the change in ownership of a Jersey or a Guernsey company are rendered void as a matter of law if CICRA has not approved the transaction prior to completion.