The Competition Act 1998: Main Work and Second Supplement

At the time of publication, the Competition Act was already on the statute book, but its main provisions - the Chapter I and Chapter II prohibitions - had yet to take effect. Since then, the Act has not merely taken effect, but has come fully to life. The UK competition authorities, applying the new prohibitions, have mounted investigations, dealt with complaints, issued decisions, and even faced appeals against those decisions. The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) has imposed substantial penalties (fines) on companies found to have breached the rules, and has used its powers to launch 'dawn raids' (unannounced inspections of the premises of companies suspected to be infringing the rules). At the same time, the utility regulators, such as OFTEL and OFGEM, have not hesitated to use their powers to apply the new competitions laws in the sectors for which they are responsible.
In addition, rules have been issued to govern the new procedures of both the OFT and the Competition Commission's Appeal Tribunals; secondary legislation has provided for exclusions from the prohibition, powers of investigation and rules for the determination of penalties; and the OFT and the sector regulators have issued guidance and guidelines to assist in the interpretation of the Act. Moreover, because the Act has to be applied by reference to the equivalent EC competition legislation, this Second Supplement also covers the main developments in the relevant EC competition law - including: major new cases on such questions as the meaning of an 'agreement' and of the concept of 'affecting trade between Member States'; new block exemptions on vertical agreements, research-and-development agreements and specialisation agreements; and proposals for the 'modernisation' of EC competition procedure which are likely to have a significant impact on the scope and operation of the UK's Competition Act.