Competition Law

A short summary of the UK competition law; specifically "Chapter I" rules that apply to all companies (often referred to as undertakings) and applaying to the interactions between companies "Chapter II" rules that apply to a specific company (a single undertaking) where an argument can be made that the company has a position of market dominance in a defined market. (The legal argument is always normally about the definition of the market). Breach of chapter II requires a demonstration of both market dominance and the action of an abuse. In law there is no limit as to what might be defined as an abuse, and that abuse does not have to be premeditated.

Summary from Pinsent Masons http://www.out-law.com/page-5811

In the UK two sets of competition rules apply in parallel. Anti-competitive behaviour which may affect trade within the UK is specifically prohibited by Chapters I and II of the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002. Where the effect of anti-competitive behaviour extends beyond the UK to other EU Member States, it is prohibited by Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

UK and EU competition law prohibit two main types of anti-competitive activity:

• anti-competitive agreements (under the Chapter I / Article 101 prohibitions);

• abuse of a dominant market position (under the Chapter II / Article 102 prohibitions).

The full article from Pinsent Masons can be read here: http://www.out-law.com/page-5811

Summary from Slaughter and May (written in 2011 and please note that on 1 April 2014 the UK Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Competition Commission (CC) merged to form the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)

File attached. You may find page 3 and 4 (the 5th and 6th pages in the pdf file) to be the most helpful in clarifying the "Chapter 1" issues.