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OFT removes joint limits
Page 21
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• The Office of Fair Trading has removed restrictions on 31 of the joint operating agreements it challenged late last year. It had written to 66 companies about 115 agreements which were potentially anticompetitive, asking for replies by 12 December.
It now says that a number of companies have agreed to stop 48 agreements and it is still considering 36 others.
Following meetings with the OFT, the Bus and Coach Council has told its members that while exchanging information on fares and marketing strategy remains acceptable, agreements to charge the same fare are not. Companies are likely to fall foul of the OFT if they enter agreements which stop them making their own commercial decisions.
Revenue-sharing agreements will also be ruled out, though most companies have moved to other agreements following deregulation, says the BCC.