Professor Brian Main, Director of The David Hume Institute said: "The Institute is delighted that John Vickers, Director General of Fair Trading and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England, is to present this seminar. It is anticipated that his talk will provide a platform for open and informed discussion concerning the current programme of the Office of Fair Trading."

Paul Hally, Chief Executive of Shepherd & Wedderburn WS, said: "Shepherd & Wedderburn is delighted to be associated with this seminar and the others in the 'Regulation' series. As a leading competition practice in the UK, we are proud to welcome John Vickers, head of the UK’s chief competition authority, to our Edinburgh office for this event. A wide spectrum of the clients we advise on competition law, from multinational plcs to government agencies, will take an especially keen interest in Mr. Vickers’ talk following the recent announcement of the first fine (£3.21m) under the UK’s Competition Act."

John Vickers has been Director General of Fair Trading since 1 October 2000. Before that he spent 2½ years as Chief Economist at the Bank of England, and was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. Most of his career has been spent teaching economics at Oxford University, where he was made the Drummond Professor of Political Economy in 1991. He has published widely on privatisation, regulation and competition. He is a fellow of the British Academy, the Econometric Society and All Souls College, Oxford.

Notes to Editors:

The views that will be expressed by the speaker are his own and do not commit the Trustees or Officers of the Institute in any way.