To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the responsibilities of (a) Ofcom and (b) the Office of Fair Trading in implementing EU competition law (i) before and (ii) after 1 May.

Before 1 May 2004, Ofcom had no powers to implement EU competition law while the Office of Fair Trading had certain limited powers to assist the European Commission in carrying out its functions in applying EU competition law.

On 1 May 2004, the Competition Act 1998 and Other Enactments (Amendment) Regulations 2004/1261 entered into force. These Regulations designated both Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading as National Competition Authorities pursuant to Article 35 of European Commission Regulation 1/2003 and made a number of amendments to the Competition Act 1998 giving both bodies the power directly to apply EU competition law in addition to UK competition law.