Jersey’s competition regulator, the JCRA, is facing scrutiny following a court case which said it was wrong to accuse ATF Fuels of abusing its dominant position in the aviation fuel market.
The fuel firm is using the victory to call on the government to review the purpose of the regulator and look into its decision-making process.
Summing up, the Royal Court judgement said: “It is right to say that we have given some weight to the fact that fuel prices at Jersey Airport have dropped considerably during the relevant period since the ATF Fuels commenced trading. Customers purchasing aviation fuel obtained a considerably better deal than they were getting from Fuel Supplies / Rubis and ABP in the years before the ATF Fuels started its business.”
The court went on to say the firm had positively driven down the price of aviation fuel and driven up the quality.
Jonathan Best of ATF Fuels said: “We are absolutely delighted that Jersey’s Royal Court has ruled to overturn the previous findings of the regulator. If the original decision by the regulator had been enforced, we would have had to go back to doing business in the way that previous suppliers had, and this would quite simply have meant increasing our prices.”
“It would also have reintroduced things like reselling agreements, and hidden margins, which we believe are non-transparent and unethical. This goes against everything our business stands for.”
“This ruling has given us a real boost and has ensured that we will be able to continue to champion fair and transparent fuel pricing in the Channel Islands. I hope that this ruling will also encourage the government to consider how the regulator is approaching its decision-making process and what the real purpose of the organisation is.”
In response, Michael Byrne, the chief executive of the competition regulator, said: “CICRA is obviously disappointed by Jersey’s Royal Court judgment which has raised some important issues. Competition law has been key to lowering costs to Jersey consumers by at least £30m since the law came into effect in 2005; the decision to defend fundamental competition law principles in this appeal in order to protect competition was not made lightly. We will now look carefully at the arguments made in the judgment by the Jersey Royal Court and consider how we will respond.”
