Foreword The changes to the United Kingdom’s (UK) competition law system, introduced under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and in force since April 2014, are designed to improve the effectiveness of competition law enforcement in this country. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has competition law powers which apply across the whole economy. Sectoral regulators such as the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) may exercise the competition law powers to enforce the prohibitions on anti-competitive agreements and on abuse of a dominant position, and to make market investigation references, concurrently with the CMA in those sectors for which they have responsibility. The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 introduced a number of changes to improve the working of concurrency and enable closer working between the CMA and sectoral regulators. The CMA and the sectoral regulators have demonstrated their commitment to making the concurrency framework more effective through the establishment of the UK Competition Network (UKCN). This represents an enhanced forum for cooperation which will enable closer working with the objective of more consistent and effective use of competition powers across all sectors. In their statement of intent in December 2013, the members of the UKCN affirmed: ‘The mission of the UKCN will be to promote competition for the benefit of consumers and to prevent anti-competitive behaviour both through facilitating use of competition powers and development of pro-competitive regulatory frameworks, as appropriate.’1 This memorandum of understanding (MoU) represents a further stage in the process of cooperation between the CMA and the regulators, setting out more practical detail on how the CMA and ▇▇▇▇▇ will work together within the framework of competition law.2 The main purpose of this MoU is to establish an understanding between the CMA and Ofwat as to how this closer working will work in practice. It draws on the legislation which sets out the formal framework for how concurrency will operate and also, importantly, sets out our bilateral commitment to look for opportunities to work 1 UKCN (2013), Statement of Intent. 2 This MoU does not relate to ‘regulatory appeals’ – that is, the separate role that the CMA has in considering appeals against, or references relating to, proposed direct regulatory action by Ofwat under the sectoral statutes. This is a separate role, to be undertaken by the CMA panel, and the CMA is committed to ensuring that its cooperation with Ofwat – whether under this MoU (and under comparable MoU agreed with other sectoral regulators), through the UKCN, or otherwise in connection with their concurrent powers – will not impair the impartiality and fairness of the CMA’s conduct of such regulatory appeals (or indeed of market or merger investigations undertaken by the CMA panel). together, including within the framework of the UKCN, to promote competition for the benefit of consumers. We shall do this by the sharing of expertise, information, ideas and experience and each of us will commit to doing this efficiently and with a mutual regard for each other’s statutory position and strategic objectives. Water and sewerage markets are in the process of liberalisation, with the aim of fostering more competitive markets for the benefit of current and future customers. As markets evolve, competition enforcement under the Competition Act 1998 and review of markets under the Enterprise Act 2002 will be increasingly important tools to enable the development of effective competition in the sector. We believe that this MoU offers a valuable basis for that cooperation, in the interests of the CMA, Ofwat, the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales and, most importantly of all, the consumers.
User Generated Content 10.1 As a user to this website, You may be allowed to post any User Generated Content (“User Content”) and You agree, by submitting your contribution, you ▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇ Group a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicensable right and license to use, reproduce, edit, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivate works from, distribute, perform, play, make available to the public, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to your contribution worldwide and/or to incorporate your contribution in other works in any media, now known or later developed, for the full terms of any rights that may exist in your contribution.
10.2 You also hereby grant other user of TM Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Content through the access and/or use of TM Website, and to use such User Content only as permitted through the functionality of TM Website.
10.3 You understand and agree that TM may retain and store, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of User Content that has been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted to TM, by You in User Content is irrevocable.
10.4 Further to the foregoing paragraph, by submitting your User Content to us, You warrant that:-
(a) your User Content is your own original work or have the necessary license, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize us to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all User Content to enable TM to use of the User Content in the manner required by us and that you have the right to make it available to us for all the purposes specified above;
(b) your User Content is not defamatory, threatening, injurious, insulting character, offensive, abusive, offensive on moral, menacing, religious or political grounds, impair your confidentiality obligations;
(c) your User Content does not infringe the law;
(d) You shall be solely responsible for your own User Content and the consequences of posting or publishing them;
(e) You will not submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post material and to grant us all of the license rights granted herein; and/or
(f) waive any moral rights in your User Content for the purposes of its submission to and publication in TM Website and the purposes specified above.
10.5 You understand that whether or not such User Content is posted, TM does not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any User Content. TM does not endorse any User Content or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with User Content. We do not permit activities which will infringe any Intellectual Property Rights including copyright and we will remove all infringing contents and User Content upon notification that such Content or User Content infringes on another’s Intellectual Property Rights. We further reserve the right to remove any Content or User Content without prior notice.
10.6 You understand and agree that we may review and delete any User Content that you posted at any time without notice, without liability and for any reason whatsoever, especially if you breach the terms and conditions herein.
10.7 We reserve the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action, in our sole discretion, against You for the User Content especially if it violates TM policy and report you to the Appropriate Authority.