The competition appeal tribunal (CAT), a newly empowered court that oversees Britain’s fledgling class action regime, ruled that it would not grant the necessary collective proceedings order for the case to continue to trial. MasterCard welcomed the judgment, saying the claim was “completely unsuitable” to be brought under the collective action regime. “The new collective action regime was introduced by the Consumer Rights Act to overcome the difficulty for consumers seeking to recover losses from competition law infringements,” he said. Under the regime, UK-based members of a defined group are automatically bound into legal action unless they opt out. The high court ruled in January that MasterCard had charged interchange fees at a lawful level and without restricting competition in a similar dispute with retailers.

Source: The Guardian July 21, 2017 22:30 UTC