British Airways (Hansard, 18 July 1990)

§ Sir Richard Body
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he received any communication from the Commission of the European Community as a result of the visit by its officials to the offices of the chairman and chief executive of British Airways when they examined their private papers and personal bank statements.

§ Mr. Lilley
No. It is not usual for the Commission to report on visits made in the course of competition investigations.

§ Sir Richard Body
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether there was any communication between the Commission of the European Community and his Deprtment before officials of the Commission carried out a search of the offices of the chairman and chief executive of British Airways to examine their private papers and personal bank statements.

§ Mr. Lilley
In accordance with usual practice, the Commission notified the Office of Fair Trading in advance about the proposed visit to British Airways on 23–24 February, which had already been arranged with the company, and an official from the office accompanied the Commission officials on the visit. So far as we can establish, no personal bank accounts were examined nor were other private papers called for.