On 16 October 2026, the Tribunal received an application to commence collective proceedings under section 47B of the Competition Act 1998 from BIRA Trading Limited (the “PCR”) against: (1) Alphabet Inc.; (2) Google LLC; (3) Google Ireland Limited; and (4) Google UK Limited (the "Proposed Defendants").
The claims are for loss and damage allegedly caused by Google's breach of statutory duty by its infringement of section 18 of the Competition Act 1998, Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 54 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. The PCR seeks to recover damages to compensate a proposed class of advertisers who purchased open web display advertising from the Proposed Defendants during the relevant period.
A summary of the proposed claim will be published on this page in due course.
A case management conference was held on 30 October 2026 to determine whether to list a hearing to determine carriage of the claims as between the PCR and AGC Collective Actions Limited (“AGC”) in Case 1773/7/7/26. It was determined that the dispute as to carriage of the claims between AGC and the PCR should take place on 14 December 2026, with AGC’s application for certification to take place on 15 December 2026. On 14 and 15 December 2026, the Tribunal will also consider certain issues relating to joint case management with Case 1572/7/7/22; 1582/7/7/23. Should the PCR ultimately be successful in the carriage dispute, their application for certification is listed provisionally for hearing on 10-11 February 2027 with a time estimate of one day with one day in reserve.
