Summary

The Competition Act of 1998 is a major piece of UK competition legislation. The Act marks a radical departure from existing UK competition rules, introducing prohibitions backed up by sweeping powers of investigation and potentially very heavy fines. This title provides an introduction to the legislation with reference to the background of the Act and describes in more detail the guiding principles of the Act, the prohibitions of anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominance, the concurrent jurisdiction of the industry regulators, investigative and enforcement powers and regulators procedure, the functions of the Competition Commission and transitional arrangements.