Imperial to Appeal Against OFT Ruling

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 04/19/2010

The Imperial Tobacco Group is to appeal against the decision of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to fine the company for allegedly restricting competition. "Following today's earlier announcement [see below], Imperial Tobacco Group has now received the OFT's decision to fine the company for allegedly restricting competition and confirms it will appeal the decision to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT)," Imperial said in a note posted on its website. "Imperial Tobacco takes compliance with competition law very seriously and continues to reject any suggestion that it acted in breach of the Competition Act or in any way contrary to the interests of its consumers." "Imperial Tobacco looks forward to the appeal hearing, given that this will be the first time in the course of a seven year investigation that the allegations made by the OFT will be reviewed by an independent tribunal. As part of its appeal, Imperial Tobacco will request the CAT to quash the proposed fine in its entirety." Enditem