A first review of the early application of the Umbrella Proceedings Practice Direction

On 6 June 2022 the Competition Appeal Tribunal published a Practice Direction enabling the President to make ‘Umbrella Proceedings Orders’ which would enable issues that are common across multiple separate proceedings to be dealt with at the same hearing. The purpose behind the Practice Direction is to avoid inconsistency across different proceedings. This article considers the approach that has been taken by the Tribunal under the Practice Direction so far in proceedings relating to: (i) multilateral interchange fees and (ii) the roll-on, roll-off shipping cartel.