Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Agreement definition

What does Agreement mean? In competition law practice, an agreement is any form of coordination between undertakings that shows a meeting of minds about market conduct (for example pricing, output, customers or territories). It is not limited to a legally enforceable contract: it includes informal or “gentlemen’s” understandings, oral arrangements, email exchanges and tacit understandings, and extends to decisions of associations of undertakings. Mere parallel conduct is insufficient without evidence of contact or communication. The term is used in legislation and developed by case law: Article 101 TFEU, section 4 of Ireland’s Competition Act 2002, and the UK Chapter I prohibition in the Competition...

Immunity and Restricted Use Undertakings under SOCPA 2005 and the Sentencing Act 2020: criteria, procedure, cleansing, false evidence and sentence review (England and Wales)

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert

Practice notes

under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA 2005), alongside the Sentencing Act 2020 (SA 2020), sets out a statutory framework for conferring immunity in specified, defined situations. Under SOCPA 2005, ss 71–72 there are provisions for:

agreements not to prosecute an individual under an immunity Notice (SOCPA 2005, s 71), and
agreements preventing certain evidence being used against an individual under a restricted use undertaking (SOCPA 2005, s 72)

There is also a statutory mechanism to reduce a defendant’s sentence under SA 2020, s 74 when they have provided relevant assistance to the authorities.

In addition, the common law ‘text’ regime remains in continuing use, enabling the police or another authority to send a confidential letter, via the prosecution, to the court briefly outlining any assistance the offender has provided.

For further information, see Practice Note: Receiving credit for and review of sentence following assistance given or withheld by the defendant.

Immunity notices and restricted use undertakings may be issued only by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) personally or by senior CPS Heads of Units in Headquarters designated by the DPP. The Director of the Serious Fraud Office,...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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