Competition Act 1998
The Competition Act 1998 introduced a prohibition-based competition law in the UK by extending the Article 81 and Article 82 prohibitions of the EC Treaty to cases which only affect trade within the United Kingdom.
The correspondence is as follows:
- Chapter I (Sections 2 and 9) provides for the Article 81 prohibition on certain anti-competitive agreements.
- Chapter II (Section 18) provides for the Article 82 prohibition on abuse of a dominant position.
- Paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 provides for the Article 86(2) justification which qualifies the application of the prohibitions to undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest (public services) or having the character of a revenue-producing monopoly (fiscal monopolies).
- Section 60 ensures that the UK prohibitions remain in line with the Article 81 and Article 82 prohibitions in EC law.
The Act empowers the Office of Fair Trading and some sector regulators (CAA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ofreg, Ofwat or ORR) to make decisions about infringements and complaints. It also establishes (what is now) the Competition Appeal Tribunal to hear appeals against these decisions.
This page provides links to the text of the Act, a selection of other official documents such as secondary legislation, and some relevant articles and case reviews on the Reckon website.
The Article 81, Article 82 and Article 86 pages provide more comprehensive lists of links to cases, regulations and guidance documents which are relevant to the application of UK law, either directly when there is a potential effect on cross-border trade or indirectly through Section 60.
Reckon's Unfair competition guide provides further information about the protection provided to businesses by the Competition Act 1998, the available enforcement procedures, and Reckon's services to victims of anti-competitive practices.
Text of the Act
The full original text of the Competition Act 1998 is available in HTML chunks from the HMSO/OPSI website at:
The Competition Act 1998 has been amended by the Enterprise Act 2002 and as a result of Council Regulation 1/2003 (amongst others).
Other official documents
Land and vertical agreements were excluded from the Section 2 prohibition when the Competition Act 1998 was passed, even though the Article 81 prohibition still applied for agreements capable of affecting international trade within the EU. The exclusion of vertical agreements was repealed with effect from 1 May 2005 by The Competition Act 1998 (Land Agreements Exclusion and Revocation) Order 2004. From 1 May 2005 restrictive vertical agreements should be treated in the same way irrespective of whether they are capable of affecting international trade within the EU, including as regards the application of the 1999 EC vertical block exemption Commission Regulation 2790/1999 (5 pages, PDF).
The Competition Act 1998 (Small Agreements and Conduct of Minor Significance) Regulations 2000 limits the exposure of smaller firms to penalties for infringement of the Competition Act 1998. The immunity from fines can be withdrawn by the OFT, but any such withdrawal does not have retrospective effect. See Sections 39 and 40 of the Act.
The OFT and other regulators responsible for the enforcement of the Competition Act 1998 have issued a series of guidelines setting out their understanding of their application of the Act and of Article 81 and Article 82. A list of such documents is available on the OFT website.
The 2001 Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption and a 2005 amendment extending it are available from the HMSO website.
Articles and case reviews
- Genzyme
A discussion of this UK case regarding exclusionary abuse of a dominant position and "refusal to supply" issues.
- Water access CAT cases
An overview of cases under the Competition Act 1998 relating to third-party access to the facilities of incumbent water companies.
- Burgess
Discussion of aspects of a CAT judgment on exclusionary abuse of a dominant position through refusal to supply, significant for its implications for Competition Act 1998 enforcement by the OFT.
- Public services and competition law | viewpoint: Franck
An article discussing how competition law applies to public services, in the light of Article 86 and its UK equivalent as well as relevant precedents such as Fenin and Bettercare. The last section reviews aspects of the OFT and UK regulators' competition law guidelines.
- See Article 81, Article 82 and Article 86 for further relevant links.
- "Unfair competition?"
Reckon's guide to complaining about anti-competitive conduct or regulations.
- Competition law enforcement and Economics advice for competition policy
Brief overview of Reckon's knowledge and services in these areas.
This page is managed by Reckon LLP. Users are encouraged to contribute relevant views and links. Use the "Edit this page" or "Add a comment" button above to edit the text or to add comments and notes. Advice on making contributions (including trackback) is in the Guidelines.
Last changed by Shankar at 11:16 AM on Sunday 30 March 2008.