The Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2015

Defence to a claim U.K.

35.—(1) Subject to rule 34, within 28 days of service of the copy of the claim form the defendant shall file a defence—

(a) setting out in sufficient detail which of the facts and contentions of law in the claim form the defendant admits or denies, on what grounds and on what other facts or contentions of law the defendant relies; and

(b) containing observations on the question in which part of the United Kingdom the proceedings of the Tribunal are to be treated as taking place under rule 18.

(2) The contents of the defence shall be verified by a statement of truth signed and dated by the defendant or on its behalf by its duly authorised officer or legal representative.

(3) As far as practicable, there shall be annexed to the defence a copy of every document referred to in the defence (except where such documents have been annexed to the claim form).

(4) Unless the Tribunal otherwise directs, the signed original of the defence shall be accompanied by five copies of the defence and its annexes certified by the defendant or its legal representative as conforming to the original.

(5) The defendant shall serve a copy of the defence and any accompanying documents on each other party at the same time as it files the defence.

(6) The defendant shall send a copy of the defence to the CMA at the same time as it is served on the other parties to the claim.

(7) Where the claim form is served on a foreign defendant, the period for filing a defence set out in paragraph (1) is varied so as to accord with the period applicable under Part 6 of the CPR in relation to proceedings in England and Wales or the equivalent provisions in the equivalent procedural rules for Scotland or Northern Ireland in relation to proceedings taking place in Scotland or Northern Ireland respectively.