The legal battle over whether business people can face prosecution for cartel activity that took place before 2003 moved to the High Court on Tuesday as the former chief executive of Morgan Crucible, the engineering group, began his appeal against extradition to the US. 

Ian Norris, who retired from the company four years ago, is the first foreign national to be sought by the US authorities on antitrust charges. Prosecutors in the US allege that he was involved in fixing the price of carbon products between 1989 and 2000, charges he denies.