• CONSTITUTION

United Kingdom Supreme Court

R (A) v Director of Establishments of the Security Service

Constitution - Exclusive jurisdiction of Special Courts - S 65(2)(a) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 - Claimant, former member of Security Service, refused permission to publish book describing his work with the Security Agency - Claimant sought judicial review of matter before High Court citing violation of right to freedom of expression - Whether High Court has jurisdiction to hear proceedings or is the jurisdiction vested only with Investigatory Powers Tribunal constituted to hear intelligence service cases?

Held, claims against the intelligence services raised special problems and simply could not be dealt with in the same way as other claims. Jurisdiction to hear a claim against the intelligence services for a violation of the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by art 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was granted exclusively to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ("IPT") by s 65(2)(a) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Therefore the High Court had no jurisdiction to hear an application for judicial review brought by a former member of the Security Service in respect of a refusal of permission to publish a book about his work with the service.

• COMPETITION

England and Wales Court of Appeals

Regina v IB

Competition - Prosecution for offence of "cartel" under UK law - Jurisdiction of Crown Court to deal with matter - Section 188 of Enterprise Act 2002 and Article 35 of Council Regulation (EC)(European Council) No 1/2003 - Defendant contended that the Crown Court had no jurisdiction to try an offence charged under section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002 which had a European dimension as the Crown Court was not a Competition Authority designated under Article 35 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003.

Held, the Regulation, as a whole, concerned with decisions whether or not agreements were valid. Such decisions were not involved in a prosecution under section 188 and "national competition law" was limited to the objective of deciding whether or not there had been anti-competitive behaviour. It followed that section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002 was not a "national competition law" within the meaning of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003. There was no basis for concluding that punishment of an offence was the exclusive province of a designated National Competition Authority. Therefore, Crown Court had jurisdiction to try or prosecute for such an offence although it was not a Competition Authority designated under Article 35 of that Regulation.