Chapter 1 prohibition meaning

Antitrust CMA closes Chapter II investigation following developments in the MIS market The CMA stated it has terminated its probe into whether Education Software Solutions Limited (ESS) contravened the Chapter II prohibition within the management information systems (MIS) sector (51427), following developments in the MIS market. MIS are databases that manage pupil records, including attendance and safeguarding, and the majority of UK schools must operate such systems. By way of background, in February 2024 the CMA received complaints alleging that ESS cautioned schools against providing a copy of their database to an alternative supplier, on the basis that this would infringe ESS’s intellectual property (IP) rights. The CMA was concerned that, without a workable means of sharing data to enable transfers, schools’ ability to migrate to a different provider would be restricted, thereby hampering moves to a new provider...

Antitrust CMA publishes updated guidance on the Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption The CMA has issued revised guidance on the Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption (PTTSBE), incorporating amendments made by the Competition Act 1998 (Public Transport Ticketing Schemes Block Exemption) (Amendment) Order 2025, following the CMA’s review and the Secretary of State’s approval of its recommendations. Background The PTTSBE provides an exemption for specified integrated ticketing schemes from the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998. Extended in 2016 for a further ten years, it had been scheduled to expire on 28 February 2026. In January 2025, the CMA proposed removing the expiry date and widening the meaning of ‘connecting service’ to cover trunk bus services. Those changes were accepted in July 2025, and the CMA consulted on draft updated guidance during August–September 2025. Updated guidance The updated guidance confirms that the PTTSBE now applies without a fixed end date, subject to statutory five-year reviews, and provides clarification on the scope...

Private actions The CAT issued four opt-out applications: Professor Carolyn Roberts v (1) United Utilities Water Limited (2) United Utilities Group PLC; v (1) Yorkshire Water Services Limited (2) Kelda Holdings Limited; v (1) Northumbrian Water Limited (2) Northumbrian Water Group Limited; and v (1) Anglian Water Services Limited (2) Anglian Water Group Limited. Roberts alleges sewerage undertakers abused a dominant position by providing misleading information to the Environment Agency and Ofwat about pollution incidents; see applications (United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water and Anglian Water). By order of 28 December 2023 in Richer Sounds Plc v Mastercard Incorporated and Others—an action alleging infringements of Article 101 TFEU and/or the Chapter I prohibition, stayed since July 2021—the CAT consented to withdrawal; see withdrawal of claim. By order of 22 December 2023 in PSA Automobiles SA & Others v Autoliv AB & Others—relying on the Commission’s 22 November 2017 Occupant Safety Systems decision (AT.39881) and alleging Article 101 TFEU infringements—the CAT consented to withdrawal of claims...

The creation of the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) in 2013 The establishment of the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) in 2013 coincided with an overhaul of a component of the criminal cartel offence that prosecutors had to prove to convict directors and officers. When the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA 2013) commenced on 1 April 2014, the dishonesty element of the cartel offence was scrapped, marking a radical change to what prosecutors had previously been required to establish. Under the revised regime, an individual commits the offence by agreeing, with one or more persons, that two or more undertakings will take part in specified prohibited cartel arrangements (price-fixing, market-sharing, bid-rigging, or limiting output), regardless of dishonesty. Any such arrangements must have occurred in the UK to be caught. As explained further below, this shift is partly offset by new exceptions, covering notification of customers, publication of arrangements, and compliance with a legal requirement, as well as defences, including that the accused did not intend to conceal...

This Practice Note This Practice Note distils rulings on when restraint of trade provisions (restrictive covenants) in commercial and corporate agreements are enforceable. For fuller detail on restrictive covenants and the restraint of trade doctrine in commercial arrangements, also see Practice Note: Restrictive covenants and restraint of trade in commercial contracts. For a companion Practice Note outlining decisions on the enforceability of post-termination restraints (restrictive covenants) in employment contracts, see Practice Note: Decisions on post-termination restrictions and garden leave in employment contracts. This Practice Note also references certain key judgments reached under EU competition law. From 1 January 2021, EU competition law no longer applies directly in the UK. Where an agreement impacts trade within the UK, Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 (CA 1998) will govern. The Chapter I prohibition bans anti-competitive agreements and is modelled on Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). EU case-law is still likely to remain relevant, but from 1 January 2024 the Retained EU Law...

Introduction Block exemption rules offer broadly applicable safe harbours for agreements from the UK ban on anti-competitive agreements set out in Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 (notably section 2), so long as the agreement satisfies the conditions of the relevant block exemption. Each such regime rests on the assumption that any restrictive deal within its ambit meets the four criteria in section 9 of the Competition Act 1998 required to obtain an individual exemption from section 2 (see also, Practice Note: Chapter I prohibition). As a result, a block exemption creates a safe harbour shielding restrictive arrangements from challenge under section 2 of the Competition Act 1998. Before 1 January 2023, research and development (R&D) agreements were covered by Retained Regulation (EU) 1217/2010, the Retained Research and Development Block Exemption Regulation (UK Retained R&D BER), which continued to apply in the UK as retained EU law after Brexit. The UK Retained R&D BER lapsed on 31 December 2022 and, from 1 January 2023, was superseded by (UK...