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Portrait ofGraeme Young

Graeme Young

Partner

Contact
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Saltire Court
20 Castle Terrace
Edinburgh
EH1 2EN
United Kingdom
Languages English, French, Italian
Antitrust, Competition & Trade

Graeme Young is a partner specialising in all aspects of UK and EU antitrust, competition and trade.  He has over 20 years’ experience advising a wide range of clients on competition compliance, commercial agreements and sales practices, competition and regulatory investigations and merger control.  He is also well-known for his advice on public procurement and State aid matters.  

Graeme is dual-qualified (Scotland and England & Wales) and EU list registered and regulated by the Dutch Brussels Bar.  He has an LL.M from the College of Europe, in Bruges, and is a former Chair of the Competition Section of the Law Society of England & Wales and a member of the Steering Committee of the Scottish Competition Forum.

With a reputation for giving practical commercial advice on complex competition and regulatory issues he is "impressively focused on getting the right result for the client" Chambers UK.

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“impressively focused on getting the right result for the client"

Chambers

"a detailed lawyer, excellent, very responsive"

Chambers

Relevant experience

  • Braid Logistics on the merger control aspects of the sale of its bulk liquid logistics business.
  • EDPR on the merger control aspects of Scotland’s largest windfarm project, a joint venture led by EDPR and involving Engie, S.A., Diamond Generating Europe Limited and China Three Gorges Corporation.
  • Glasgow University on a CMA consumer enforcement action following the higher education market investigation.
  • Clyde Blowers Capital on the merger control aspects of its £1 billion acquisition of the Union Pumps business and three other divisions of Textron Inc..
  • Language Line LLC on UK merger clearance for its acquisition of a competitor in the UK.
  • A major financial institution on a Competition Act investigation and on more general competition compliance and dawn raids.
  • A major energy utility on a Competition Act investigation by Ofgem (abuse of dominance).
  • On State aid issues in the energy sector, including the implications of the Tempus judgment and the UK capacity market regime.
  • 118118 on the CMA’s payday loan market investigation.
  • Scottish Water on regulatory and competition aspects of the retail supply market in Scotland.
  • Northern Ireland Water on price control and on a regulatory investigation.
  • UEFA on the introduction of the “home-grown” player rule, the introduction of new licensing system for football clubs and other issues relating to the application of EU internal market, competition and state aid rules to football.
  • On competition aspects of joint bidding in the context of bid submissions for Spanish media rights to UEFA Champions League.
  • A complainant on a Competition Act investigation into suppliers of access control and alarm systems to retirement homes.
  • A FTSE250 company on a competition law compliance review and audit, including conducting a survey of around 60 senior managers and review of the company's policies and processes for compliance and dawn raid responses.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Former Chair, The Law Society's Competition Section
  • Procurement Lawyers’ Association
  • UK State Aid Law Association
  • Scottish Competition Forum
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Public Procurement

Graeme Young is a partner advising on EU and UK antitrust, competition and trade, public procurement and state aid. This includes advising on cartel and other competition investigations, compliance and dawn raids, supply and distribution agreements, joint ventures and strategic commercial agreements, merger control and private enforcement.

Graeme also advises on public procurement and state aid issues. He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Public Procurement Law and is an active member of the UK Procurement Lawyers Association. He regularly advises on procurement and state aid aspects of IT and capital infrastructure projects and on procurement challenges.

He has specific expertise in the financial services and the energy and utilities sectors. Graeme worked as in-house counsel at National Grid and Centrica and has advised on a variety of competition and regulatory issues in the energy, water, telecoms and transport sectors, including UK merger control and Competition Act investigations. 

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"He is good with clients and has a great depth of knowledge in procurement."

Chambers, 2024

"He is good with clients and has a great depth of knowledge in procurement." "Graeme is an expert and provides advice on tricky regulations."

Chambers, 2024

“impressively focused on getting the right result for the client"

Chambers

"a detailed lawyer, excellent, very responsive"

Chambers

Relevant experience

  • A Competition Act investigation into suppliers of access control and alarm systems to retirement homes.
  • A major financial institution on compliance and dawn raids.
  • A major energy utility on competition (metering), regulatory and procurement matters (gas holder decommissioning).
  • A major energy utility on a Competition Act investigation by Ofgem (abuse of dominance).
  • Merger control assessment of a UK acquisition of a company engaged in supplying ingredients and accessories for the ice cream industry.
  • Scottish Water on the introduction of retail competition in Scotland.
  • Patersons of Greenoakhill Ltd v South Lanarkshire Council [2014] (successful defence of an award decision and securing lifting of automatic suspension).
  • British Telecommunications plc v NHS Scotland [2014] (successful defence of an award decision and securing lifting of automatic suspension).
  • Buchanan Partnership on funding and contract arrangements for the Buchanan Quarter Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) scheme (procurement and state aid).
  • City of Edinburgh Council on procurement and state aid aspects of its Connected Capital Wi-Fi project.
  • Transport Scotland on the procurement of a number of major road and rail projects (under competitive dialogue), including the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR), M8 improvements and the new Borders Railway.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Former Chair, The Law Society's Competition Section
  • Procurement Lawyers’ Association
  • UK State Aid Law Association
  • Scottish Competition Forum
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Education

  • 1996 - LLM in European Law, College of Europe, Bruges
  • 1995 - Law, Dip LP, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
  • 1994 - Law, LLB (Hons), University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen
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12/05/2022
10 key aspects of the revised EU competition law in the field of distribution...
The new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) and the new accompanying Vertical Guidelines (VGL) were published on 10 May 2022. The new VBER will enter into force on 1 June 2022 and apply for the next twelve years. The new VBER/VGL introduce sev

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20/02/2024
Court of Appeal confirms position on damages for breach of public procurement...
The much anticipated judgment in the Braceurself appeal has been handed down by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal (led by LJ Coulson) has reaffirmed the position established by the High Court that...
26/01/2024
Commissioning Health Care Services in England: The new PSR regime
Following a lengthy consultation process, the Health Care Services (Provider Selection Regime) Regulations 2023 (the “PSR”), were laid before Parliament on 19 October 2023. The PSR has been designed...
14/12/2023
European Commission must launch a State aid investigation into the granting...
The European Commission (Commission) must launch a formal State aid investigation into the granting of Dutch lottery licences, following an appeal to the EU General Court by the European Gaming and Betting...
07/11/2023
CMA goes green with guidance supporting collaboration between businesses...
With ESG firmly on the corporate agenda, recent guidance from the CMA is intended to give businesses confidence to collaborate across industries and sectors to support sustainability objectives without...
10/10/2023
Procurement Cube
Welcome to CMS’ interactive Procurement Cube where we will be exploring the new Procurement Act through the lens of a number of key sectors, each sector being one side of our cube: Defence, Energy & Utilities, In­fra­struc­ture, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Real Estate and TMT & Outsourcing. We will also be providing resources, links and up-to-date information on procurement reform in the UK. Please bookmark this page and look out for new, sector-specific insights and commentary from the CMS team.
26/09/2023
Collaborating with competitors? The CMA issues final guidance on horizontal...
Competition authorities have long sought to strike the right balance between preventing illegal forms of collaboration and allowing businesses to cooperate in a way that will foster innovation and promote...
20/09/2023
“Conduct requirements” and “Pro-Com­pet­i­tion In­ter­ven­tions”: New tools in...
This is the third in a series of articles analysing specific features of the digital and competition reforms contained in the recently published Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill). ...
25/08/2023
TMT & Outsourcing
The Act also gives authorities more discretion to exclude suppliers, raising risks around debarment, and has a greater focus on contract management over the lifetime of the contracts procured, including the use of KPIs and monitoring and reporting requirements. This summer, the UK Government published an updated version of the Sourcing Playbook and a new Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Playbook. The intention is to reflect the sector-specific aspects of the new Act and in the accompanying secondary legislation and guidance in these playbooks; the playbooks acting as best practice for authorities when conducting technology and IT procurements, and outsourcing more generally. Our sector-specific insights will help you understand and navigate these new rules and their specific application in the sector.
25/08/2023
Energy & Utilities
Companies operating in these sectors will need to assess whether they are caught by the Act, and then identify the specific aspects of the new rules that will apply to them and their procurement activity. They will also need to get their heads around the new rules on “open” and “closed” frameworks and “dynamic markets”, as well as the new award procedures and transparency requirements. Suppliers to the energy and utilities sectors will also need to make themselves aware of the new rules. This will be important to ensure they do not miss contract opportunities, and also to ensure they give themselves the best chance of retaining and winning business.
25/08/2023
Infrastructure
Key features of the new rules will include: exclusion grounds and debarment; the future of PQQs/SQs; new contract award procedures; inclusion of ESG and social value criteria; new rules on frameworks; changes to debriefing, standstill and remedies; and the publication of contract information and no­tices. Wheth­er you looking at new projects as a procuring authority, or as an investor, contractor or consultant, our insights into the new Act and its implementation over the next six months will help you address these challenges.
25/08/2023
Life Sciences & Healthcare
Then there is the extent to which all other NHS procurement will be subject to Procurement Act, and the specific features of the Act that will be relevant to healthcare procurement. These include: the scope of the ‘light touch regime’; new rules on frameworks and ‘dynamic markets’; debarment and exclusion; contract management and modifications; transparency rules including the publication of different forms of notices). Our sector-specific insights will help you understand and navigate these new rules and their specific application in the sector.   
25/08/2023
Real Estate
Compliance with procurement law (and subsidy control rules) is key to successfully structuring these projects. The procurement basis for these schemes varies, but usually involves having to navigate the complex and sometimes inconsistent case-law derived from the current set of procurement regulations.  While most of main concepts remain unchanged, some of the more detailed provisions in the new Act may make it easier to navigate public procurement rules. In considering the impact of the new Act on the Real Estate sector, our insights will consider some of those specific features of the new rules, including:The definitions of a “public contract” and “works”;Ex­emp­tions for the acquisition of land and build­ings; Dir­ect award justifications and requirements to compete sub-contracts; andThe rules applying to the modification of public contracts.