Source: https://www.monckton.com/barrister/george-peretz-qc/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 22:39:36+00:00

Document:
George’s appointment as QC in 2015 confirms the excellence of his advocacy and advice over a wide range of public law, regulatory and tax issues, with particular strengths in competition, VAT, agriculture, freedom of information and pharmaceuticals. He has recently won a number of major cases in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, European Court of Justice and General Court and regularly leads in the senior English courts as well as in specialist tribunals such as the Competition Appeal Tribunal, Upper Tribunal, and the Tax and General Regulatory Chambers of the First-tier Tribunal.
In the area of competition law, George is said by the Chambers 2016 UK directory to be “very attentive to detail while at the same time being able to take an overall view of the issues at stake. He manages to convey the crux of the case in a few simple words.” He advises and represents major private clients, regulators and Government departments over the whole field of competition law, including cartels, mergers, Article 102, private actions for damages and injunctions and judicial review. He frequently appears on competition issues before the Competition Appeal Tribunal and other UK courts, as well as the European Court of Justice and General Court. He recently acted for the Commission in its successful defence of its high-profile Lundbeck ”pay for delay” decision in the EU General Court, and is also acting for the Commission in the appeals against its Servier decision. Recently, he led, in the Court of Appeal, a leading pharmaceutical company’s successful defence against an application for an interim injunction under Article 102, in a case raising important and difficult issues as to the correct approach to market definition and abuse in pharma cases (Chemistree v Abbvie ). He has extensive experience of guiding clients through investigations by the Competition and Markets Authority and its predecessors, including complaints, leniency applications, responding to dawn raids and demands for information, preparing responses to Statements of Objections, settlement negotiations and oral representations, as well as leading for clients in phase 1 and phase 2 merger inquiries.
George has very considerable experience in advising and representing public and private sector clients on State aid issues, including appearances in the European Court of Justice and General Court. He has particular experience of advising government and private clients on the interplay between State aid and tax, having advised on a number of high profile issues in that area. Recent highlights include extensive advice on the Flood Re scheme to secure affordable flood insurance for those in homes at flood risk (news item), representing the UK on the notification of the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (here), and representing HMRC in a judicial review involving State aid issues. He is Joint Convenor of the UK State Aid Law Association .
In the area of VAT George “has a wealth of experience of appearing before the Supreme Court and the ECJ” (Chambers UK directory 2016). Recent highlights include successfully leading for HMRC in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, and Upper Tribunal in different strands of the high-profile and multi-billion pound litigation in the Rank case (fiscal neutrality and gaming machines), where his arguments persuaded those courts to reverse a series of defeats for HMRC in the lower courts. He also successfully appeared for the UK in the ECJ in Case C-651/11 Staatssecretaris van Financiën v X (transfer of a going concern).
In the area of pharmaceutical regulation George has recently appeared successfully for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the High Court and Court of Appeal in R(Roche Registration Ltd) v MHRA  4 W.L.R 46 and in R(Napp Pharmaceuticals v The Secretary of State for Health acting as The Licensing Authority)  EWHC 1982 (see here).
George has extensive experience of litigating regulatory and public law, in a wide variety of other contexts. He has appeared in the Supreme Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and European Court of Justice in leading cases, concerning agricultural, intellectual property, human rights, free movement, and telecommunications. Recent highlights include his successful appearances, for the UK in the ECJ in Case C-500/11 Fruition (agricultural producers organisations), in the Supreme Court for the Treasury in Hemming v City of Westminster (licensing fees and free movement,  AC 1600), for the claimants in a test case on the liability of the DWP to make payments under the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 to children suffering narcolepsy as a result of H1N1 vaccinations (G v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions  UKUT 321 (AAC)), and for the Statistics Board in the High Court on an application for a declaration that UK census legislation was contrary to the ECHR (R oao Ali v Statistics Board  EWHC 1943 (Admin)).
George has frequently acted for both public sector and private clients in the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal on Freedom of Information Act issues, and co-authored the second edition of the Blackstone’s Guide to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
George is a part-time Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber).
Association of Convenience Stores and National Federation of Retail Newsagents v OFT (Competition Appeal Tribunal, challenge to OFT prioritisation decision)  CompAR 1.
OFT v. X  2 All ER (Comm) 182,  UKCLR 785 (compatibility of OFTs powers to “dawn raid” with the Human Rights Act 1998).
Rank v HMRC: successfully represented HMRC in Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in major case concerning application of the principle of fiscal neutrality in the gaming industry  2 WLR 1271 (SC)  STC 470 (CA): also represented HMRC in the ECJ (Case C-259/10,  STC 23)) and Upper Tribunal ( STC 420 (successful application for remittal of another aspect of the case to First-tier Tribunal). These victories reversed a string of defeats for HMRC in the Tribunal and High Court.
Association of Convenience Stores and National Federation of Retail Newsagents* v OFT (Competition Appeal Tribunal, challenge to OFT prioritisation decision)  CompAR 1.
George has advised a number of clients, including the DTI and leading travel companies, on consumer law issues. The areas on which he has advised include the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, consumer credit issues and trading schemes. He has acted for licensees in appeals against licensing decisions by the OFT. George advised extensively on consumer law issues while at the OFT. He has also advised on the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, and advised a leading travel company on action by the OFT.
Pharmaceutical law: In addition to his leading role in key recent competition cases affecting the pharmaceutical industry (all involving analysis of the interplay between the competition rules and pharmaceutical regulation), (Chemistree v AbbVie, Lundbeck v Commission and Servier v Commission), George has wide experience of advising on and litigating pharmaceutical regulatory issues: he has advised the UK Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency on a range of complex regulatory matters, he successfully defended the MHRA in the High Court and Court of Appeal against a challenge to its powers of inspection in pharmacovigilance cases (R(Roche) v MHRA)  EWCA Civ 1311), and has appeared for the UK in the ECJ in cases involving supplementary protection certificates (Case C-482/07 AHP Manufacturing  FSR 23). Agricultural law: George also has extensive experience of advising on EU agricultural law issues and litigating them in the highest courts: see Fruition PO v. DEFRA (ECJ and High Court; rules governing producers’ organisations); R (Speciality Produce) v DEFRA (Court of Appeal) and Milk Supplies Limited v. DEFRA  2 CMLR 40 (Abuse of rights: Court of Appeal). He has also advised DEFRA and the Rural Payments Agency on a wide range of complex issues under the CAP, including the Single Payments Scheme and rules concerning producers’ organisations, and has frequently appeared in RPA appeal hearings before the panel of appointed persons. Free Movement: George has extensive experience of free movement issues including advising Government on a range of high-profile issues including infraction proceedings by the Commission He recently represented the Treasury in the Supreme Court in Hemming v City of Westminster  AC 1600, concerning the compatibility of licensing fees with the Provision of Services Directive.
George regularly advises public and private clients on data protection and freedom of information issues, and regularly appears in the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) and Upper Tribunal. He acted for the complainant in the early, and still leading, Information Tribunal case of Bellamy v. Information Commissioner (disclosability of legal advice relied on by the DTI): recent cases include Keene v. Information Commissioner and Central Office of Information (commercially sensitive information), Dunn v Information Commissioner and Department of Communities and Local Government (lawyer/client privilege and Law Officers’ advice), BIS v IC and Whyte (commercial confidentiality), Holland v Met Office (international relations exemption) and Bell v IC and MoD (Upper Tribunal: vexatious requests). Other cases raising disclosure/data protection issues in which he has recently acted include R oao Privacy International v HMRC  BTC 25 (Admin) (HMRC powers of disclosure) and R oao Ali v Statistics Board  EWHC 1943 (Admin) (powers to disclose census data).
He was one of the co-authors of the 2nd edition of the Blackstone’s Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.
Other career highlights include: successfully acting for the claimants (children suffering from narcolepsy as the result of H1N1 vaccination) in test case on the liability of DWP under the Vaccine Damages Act 1979 (G v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions  UKUT 321 (AAC); bringing the first judicial review of an interim measures decision by the Competition Commission, and the first challenge under the Enterprise Act to a Competition Commission finding of substantial lessening of competition in a merger case (Stericycle v CC) and acting for the OFT in the leading case on compatibility of the OFT’s “dawn raid” powers with the Human Rights Act (OFT v X).
George is a member of the Attorney General’s A panel.
George is one of the joint authors of the 2nd edition of Blackstone’s Guide to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. George was a member of the team that prepared the 6th edition of Bellamy and Child on the European Community Law of Competition (chapter on enforcement and procedure), and also wrote the chapter on procedure before the OFT in Ward & Smith “Competition Litigation in the UK”. He is contributing to a number of other works dealing with the Competition Act. He is a consulting editor of the UK Competition Law Reports, and is UK reporter for the European State Aid Law Quarterly. He has written articles on competition law for the Competition Law Journal, European Competition Law Review, PLC and The Lawyer. George has given talks on a wide variety of competition law issues to training conferences (such as IBC, Hawksmere and PLC), Government lawyers, the Solicitors’ European Group, and individual companies and firms of solicitors. He has also given talks on VAT and freedom of information issues to various audiences.
Languages Good working knowledge of French and Spanish: he can accept instructions in, and read documents in, both languages, and has given talks on competition law in French. Basic knowledge of German.

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