Looking Backwards and Forwards: What Does 25 Years of Competition Enforcement in the UK Tell Us about the Future?

August 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of the publication of the draft Competition Bill in August 1997. Passing into law the following year, what became the Competition Act 1998 introduced into UK law the Chapter I Prohibition against anticompetitive agreements and the Chapter II Prohibition against the abuse of a dominant position.  Although there have been significant reforms and institutional changes since 1997, the fundamental building blocks of this framework have remained consistent and the Competition Act 1998 has been a key pillar of the public enforcement of competition law in the UK for nearly 25 years.  This article highlights some key developments and reflects on what the past quarter-century of enforcement under the Competition Act 1998 may tell us about the future of competition law enforcement in the UK. 

By Rachel Brandenburger, Christopher Hutton & Stelios Charitopoulos^[1]

I. INTRODUCTION

As the UK celebrated the 70^th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, many within the UK competition community will have been preparing to celebrate another imminent anniversary. August 2022 marks the 25^th anniversary of the publication of the draft Competition Bill in August 1997. Passing into law the following year, what became the Competition Act 1998 (“CA98”) introduced into UK law prohibitions against anticompetitive agreements (“Chapter I Prohibition”) and the abuse of a dominant position (“Chapter II Prohibition”, t