Ryanair Holdings plc  v Office of Fair Trading & Anor

The Supreme Court has refused Ryanair permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision of 22 May. The Court of Appeal upheld the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision that the OFT was entitled to refer the issue of Ryanair’s minority shareholding in Aer Lingus to the Competition Commission after the EC Merger Regulation process had concluded.

The Supreme Court refused permission to appeal on the basis that Ryanair’s application did not raise an arguable point of law, bearing in mind that the case had already been the subject of judicial decision and reviewed on appeal.  Further, the Court found that “the case was not decided on an issue of European law and the prospects of success are not sufficient to justify a further lengthy delay in these proceedings“.

 The Court of Appeal’s judgment in this case can be found here.

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