DGFT to negotiate Change of Undertakings given by Coloplast

Melanie Johnson, Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets, today announced that she has asked the Director General of Fair Trading (DGFT), to negotiate a change of the terms of the undertakings given by Coloplast A/S, following the Competition Commission report into the completed acquisition by Coloplast A/S of the continence care business of SSL International plc. Miss Johnson has accepted the advice of the DGFT that there has been a change in circumstances since the original undertakings were sought, and that the undertakings should be changed.Miss Johnson has further accepted the DGFT’s advice that she should ask him to negotiate the terms of a price cap on the sale of Clear Advantage and Conveen Security Plus sheaths to NHS hospitals in the UK. The price cap should run until the end of the exclusive distribution agreement between Coloplast and the Mentor Corporation in 2007, and an undertaking is to be obtained that this agreement will not be renewed. Frontier advised Coloplast through both the Competition Commission investigation and OFT negotiations.