Competition Act 1998

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The Competition Act 1998 prohibits any agreement, business practice or conduct which has, or could have, a damaging effect on competition in the United Kingdom. 

This includes abuse by a company which uses its dominant position in a way that harms competition. Where conduct has an effect on trade between member states we will apply Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

We have extensive powers to investigate companies believed to be involved in anti-competitive activities.

The Act is also enforced by the CMA. In relation to the railway industry, we hold concurrent powers and will generally lead in the investigation of rail related matters. The exception to this is criminal 'cartels' which are investigated by the CMA and the Serious Fraud Office.

The CMA's Green Agreements Guidance on the application of Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998

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On 12 October 2023 the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) published Guidance on the application of Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 to environmental sustainability agreements (the CMA’s Green Agreements Guidance). 

Under section 54 of the Competition Act 1998, ORR has concurrent powers to enforce competition law in the railways sector. 

When we exercise our concurrent competition powers, we will have regard to the CMA's Green Agreements Guidance alongside our own enforcement guidance for Competition Act 1998 cases (ORR's CA98 guidance) and other statutory guidance we are bound to follow.

Competition Act 1998 investigations

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Details of the investigations carried out under the Act.

Commitment decisions

Freightliner commitments - continued monitoring until March 2019

Infringement decisions

EWS Limited infringement of the Chapter 2 prohibition
17 November 2006

Non-infringement decisions

These are decisions where, following an investigation under our Competition Act powers, we have decided that the conduct complained about does not infringe the Competition Act 1998.

Examples of competition law infringements

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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has produced a range of materials to help companies understand competition law. This includes animated films like this one on what you can do to comply with competition law.

Prohibitions under the Competition Act 1998

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The Competition Act 1998 prohibits:

  • agreements between undertakings (busineses) or decisions of associations of undertakings (e.g. trade associations), and concerted practices which have, as their object or effect, the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the United Kingdom (or any part of it) and which may affect trade in the United Kingdom. This is known as the Chapter I Prohibition; and
  • conduct by one or more undertakings amounting to the abuse of a dominant position in a market which may affect trade within the United Kingdom. This is known as the Chapter II Prohibition.

Some examples that may indicate anti-competitive behaviour include:

  • a major supplier has suddenly decided, for no apparent reason, to discontinue supplying you with a product;
  • quotes from various suppliers are surprisingly and unusually similar;
  • a major supplier will only sell you a product if you buy an unconnected product; or
  • on entering a market, you find that a major competitor has responded by dropping its prices to extremely low levels, which you suspect would not cover its costs.

The fact that a company is engaged in any of the behaviour shown in the examples above does not mean that it has necessarily broken the law. This will depend on the circumstances of the case.

Under the Competition Act 1998, the Chapter I prohibition is breached only where the agreement or arrangement in question has an appreciable effect on competition. The Chapter II prohibition is breached only where the undertaking engaged in the conduct in question is in a dominant position within the market in question and has abused that position. In some cases the behaviour in question may be a perfectly legitimate response to rigorous competition in the market.

Guidance

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We have published guidance on our approach to the enforcement of the Competition Act 1998 in relation to the supply of services relating to railways. We exercise our functions under the Act concurrently with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has also published guidance on competition law.