Restrictive Agreements

This Practice note considers the scope and application of the Chapter I prohibition contained in the Competition Act 1998 to commercial agreements. Chapter I prohibits agreements that have as their object or effect the restriction, prevention or distortion of competition within the UK, and which have an effect on trade within the UK. Definitions of each of these elements is provided, together with guidance on exclusions to the prohibition and the risks of infringement. A checklist provides guidelines on handling requests for information from, and investigations by, the Office of Fair Trading. In March 2012 the government  announced its decision on proposals to reform the UK competition regime. The government decided to establish a new single Competition and Markets Authority to replace the OFT and Competition Commission.  The government  also decided on various, largely procedural,  changes to strengthen the mergers, markets and antitrust enforcement regimes. For further information see Government decisions on establishment of Competition and Markets Authority and reform of UK competition regime.  These changes will be implemented by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (see Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill 2012 -13: competition tracker).

This Practice note considers the competition law implications of activities carried out and measures taken by state institutions and public bodies. State intervention in the economy can take many forms. This note discusses, first, the instances in which public bodies have been held to engage in economic activity and hence act as undertakings. It then analyses other forms of state intervention in the economy and its consequences on the liability of the state itself under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and of undertakings under Article 101 and Article 102. The exclusion provided by Article 106(2) for undertakings engaged in services of general economic interest and revenue-producing monopolies is also discussed.

This Practice Note surveys the relevant US antitrust law and discusses current issues surrounding its application to customer loyalty programs including bundling, rebates or exclusive dealing arrangements.

This flowchart guide contains a short overview of the application of Article 101 to commercial agreements, designed to give the user a general understanding of the key legal and practical issues relevant when negotiating or operating commercial agreements in the EU.

This Practice Note considers the application of the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 to land agreements, following the repeal, as of 6 April 2011, of the exclusion order which had excluded them from the scope of the prohibition. It also considers, briefly, the application of the Chapter II prohibition to land agreements. 

This Practice note examines the application of the European Commission Guidelines on the applicability of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to horizontal co-operation agreements to standardisation and the joint-setting of standard terms.