- agreement
includes a suspected agreement and is to be read as applying equally to, or in relation to, a decision by an association of undertakings or a concerted practice;
- approved scheme
means a redress scheme approved by the CMA, • “compensating party” means a person offering compensation under an approved scheme, • “infringement decision” means a decision of the CMA that the Chapter I prohibition or the Chapter II prohibition has been infringed, and • “redress scheme” means a scheme under which a person offers compensation in consequence of an infringement decision made in respect of that person.
- Article 41 order
means an order under Article 41 of the Gas (Northern Ireland) Order 1996;
- Article 95(2) commitments transfer decision
means an instrument issued by the European Commission in accordance with Article 95(2) of the EU withdrawal agreement transferring responsibility for the monitoring and enforcement of EU anti-trust commitments to the CMA;
- Article 95(2) direction transfer decision
means an instrument issued by the European Commission in accordance with Article 95(2) of the EU withdrawal agreement transferring responsibility for the monitoring and enforcement of an EU anti-trust direction to the CMA;
- assimilated block exemption regulation
means the following regulations as amended from time to time—
- assimilated exemption
has the meaning given in section 10(3);
- block exemption
has the meaning given in section 6(4);
- block exemption order
has the meaning given in section 6(2);
- business premises
means premises (or any part of premises) not used as a dwelling.
- Cartel
means an agreement or concerted practice between two or more competitors aimed at— through practices such as (but not limited to) those listed in sub-paragraph (2).
- Cartel leniency programme
means a programme operated by a competition authority under which—
- Cartel leniency statement
means a set of information provided, orally or in writing, to a competition authority by or on behalf of a person which— excluding any pre-existing information.
- Chapter III powers
means the powers given to the Director by Chapter III of Part I of that Act so far as they relate to the Chapter I prohibition;
- charity
means a body, or the trustees of a trust, established for charitable purposes only;
- class member
has the meaning given in section 47B(8)(a);
- collective proceedings
has the meaning given in section 47B(1);
- collective proceedings order
means an order made by the Tribunal authorising the continuance of collective proceedings;
- compensating party
means a person offering compensation under an approved scheme, • “infringement decision” means a decision of the CMA that the Chapter I prohibition or the Chapter II prohibition has been infringed, and • “redress scheme” means a scheme under which a person offers compensation in consequence of an infringement decision made in respect of that person.
- Competent person
means the CMA or any of the regulators.
- Competition authority
means—
- Competition claim
means—
- Competition damages claim
means a competition claim to the extent that it is a claim for damages.
- Competition law
means—
- Competition proceedings
means proceedings before a court or the Tribunal to the extent that they relate to a competition claim.
- conduct
includes suspected conduct.
- conduct of minor significance
means conduct which falls within a category prescribed for the purposes of this section.
- Consensual dispute resolution process
means arbitration, mediation or any other process enabling parties to a dispute to resolve it out of court.
- consensual settlement
means an agreement relating to a dispute about loss or damage arising from an infringement of competition law which—
- Continuing application
means an application made, but not determined, before the starting date.
- continuing proceedings
has the meaning given by paragraph 15;
- Court
means— except in paragraphs 3(6) and 35.
- Damages
includes any sum of money (other than costs or expenses) which may be awarded in respect of a competition claim.
- damages-based agreement
has the meaning given in section 58AA(3) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
- decision
means a decision of the CMA — and includes a direction under section 32 or 33 and such other decisions under this Part as may be prescribed.
- Department
means the Department of Economic Development.
- Digital markets proceedings
means proceedings under section 101 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act 2024 (rights to enforce requirements of Part 1).
- Director
means the Director General of Fair Trading;
- document
includes information recorded in any form;
- domestic premises
means premises (or any part of premises) that are used as a dwelling and are—
- dominant position
means a dominant position within the United Kingdom;
- enactment date
means the date on which this Act is passed;
- exempt agreement
means an agreement which is exempt from the Chapter I prohibition as a result of section 9;
- exempt provisions
means those provisions of the agreement which would, disregarding section 14 of the RPA, be—
- information
includes estimates and forecasts;
- infringement decision
means a decision of the CMA that the Chapter I prohibition or the Chapter II prohibition has been infringed, and • “redress scheme” means a scheme under which a person offers compensation in consequence of an infringement decision made in respect of that person.
- injunction
includes an interim injunction;
- interim period
means the period beginning on the enactment date and ending immediately before the starting date;
- investigating officer
has the meaning given in section 27(1);
- investigation
means an investigation under section 25;
- legal requirement
means a requirement—
- merger provisions
means the provisions of the agreement which cause, or if carried out would cause, the agreement to have the result mentioned in sub-paragraph (1).
- Minister of the Crown
has the same meaning as in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975;
- named officer
means the officer named in the warrant;
- networking arrangements
has the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Communications Act 2003.
- non-exempt agreement
means an agreement relating to the provision of railway services (whether made before or after the starting date) which is not a section 131 agreement;
- OFCOM
means the Office of Communications;
- opt-in collective proceedings
has the meaning given in section 47B(10);
- opt-out collective proceedings
has the meaning given in section 47B(11);
- Part 1 proceedings
means proceedings brought otherwise than by the CMA— (za) in respect of an infringement decision;or (a) in respect of an alleged infringement of the Chapter I prohibition or of the Chapter II prohibition;...
- partner
includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
- penalty notice
means a notice given under section 36;
- person
has the same meaning as in Part I;
- planning obligation
means—
- pre-existing information
means information that exists irrespective of a competition authority’s investigations, and
- premises
includes any land or means of transport;
- prescribed
means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;
- price fixing agreement
means an agreement which has as its object or effect, or one of its objects or effects, restricting the freedom of a party to the agreement to determine the price to be charged (otherwise than as between that party and another party to the agreement) for the product, service or other matter to which the agreement relates.
- Privileged communication
means a communication— which in proceedings in the High Court would be protected from disclosure on grounds of legal professional privilege.
- Procedural rules
means—
- railway services
has the meaning given by section 82 of the 1993 Act.
- recognised interbranch organisation
means an organisation of agricultural businesses recognised under section 30 of the Agriculture Act 2020;
- redress scheme
means a scheme under which a person offers compensation in consequence of an infringement decision made in respect of that person.
- regional Channel 3 licence
has the same meaning as in Part I;
- regulating provisions
means— (a) in relation to a self-regulating organisation, any rules made, or guidance issued, by the organisation;
- Regulation 1/2003
means Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules on competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty.
- regulator
has the meaning given by section 54;
- relevant exclusion
means an exclusion under paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 or paragraph 2 or 9 of Schedule 3 or the Competition Act 1998 (Land and Vertical Agreements Exclusion) Order 2000.
- relevant guidance
means the statement of policy which was most recently published under section 40B of the 1998 Act at the time when the act or omission concerned occurred.”
- Relevant particulars
means—
- relevant party
means— (a) in relation to the Chapter I prohibition..., a party to the agreement which has been found to have infringed the prohibition or is alleged to have infringed the prohibition (as the case may be);
- relevant person
means—
- relevant undertaking
means an undertaking whose activities are being investigated as part of the investigation in question.
- representative
means a person who is authorised by a collective proceedings order to bring collective proceedings;
- represented person
means a class member who— ((a)) has opted in to opt-in collective proceedings, ((b)) was domiciled in the United Kingdom at the time specified for the purposes of determining domicile (see section 47B(11)(b)(i)) and has not opted out of opt-out collective proceedings, or ((c)) has opted in to opt-out collective proceedings;
- RPA
means the Resale Prices Act 1976;
- RTPA
means the Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1976;
- rules
means rules made by the CMA under section 51.
- section 100 order
means an order made under section 100 of the Electricity Act 1989;
- section 131
means section 131 of the Railways Act 1993 (“the 1993 Act”);
- section 131 agreement
means an agreement— (a) to which the RTPA does not apply immediately before the starting date by virtue of section 131(1);
- section 62
means section 62 of the Gas Act 1986;
- section 62 order
means an order made under section 62.
- sectoral matters
means—
- settlement representative
means a person who is authorised by a collective settlement order to act in relation to a collective settlement.
- Settlement submission
means a statement made, orally or in writing, to a competition authority by or on behalf of an undertaking—
- small agreement
means an agreement—
- small or medium-sized enterprise
means a small or medium-sized enterprise as defined in the Annex to Commission Recommendation (EC) No. 2003/361 of 6 May 2003 (“the SME Annex”), subject to sub-paragraph (6).
- specified
means— (a) specified, or described, in the notice under subsection (3), or (b) falling within a category which is specified, or described, in that notice;
- specified activities
means the activities specified in regulations under section 30(6)(e) of that Act.
- specified date
means the date specified in the penalty notice.
- specified practices
means— (a) in the case of a recognised self-regulating organisation, the practices mentioned in section 119(2)(a)(ii) and (iii) above (read with section 119(5) and (6)(a));
- starting date
means the date on which section 2 comes into force;
- subordinate legislation
has the same meaning as in section 21(1) of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c 30) and includes an instrument made under—
- the 1973 Act
means the Fair Trading Act 1973;
- the appropriate court
means the Court of Appeal or, in the case of an appeal from Tribunal proceedings in Scotland, the Court of Session.
- the Chapter I prohibition
has the meaning given in section 2(8);
- the Chapter II prohibition
has the meaning given in section 18(4);
- the CMA
means the Competition and Markets Authority;
- the court
means—
- the limiting provisions
means sub-paragraph (1) or (2) of paragraph 3 of Schedule 8 to the 1973 Act (limit on power to make orders under paragraph 1 or 2 of that Schedule) and includes any provision of the order included because of either of those sub-paragraphs;
- the order
means an order under section 56 or 73 of the 1973 Act;
- the relevant period
means the period beginning with the starting date and ending immediately before the fifth anniversary of that date.
- the Tribunal
means the Competition Appeal Tribunal;
- the United Kingdom
means, in relation to an agreement which operates or is intended to operate only in a part of the United Kingdom, that part.
- third party
means a person who is not a party to the agreement (or who has not engaged in the conduct).
- transferred EU anti-trust commitments
has the meaning given by section 40ZA(1);
- transferred EU anti-trust direction
has the meaning given by section 40ZA(3).
- transitional period
means the transitional period provided for in Chapters III and IV of Part IV of this Schedule.
- Tribunal rules
means rules under section 15 of the Enterprise Act 2002. • “working day” means a day which is not— (a) Saturday, (b) Sunday, (c) Christmas Day, (d) Good Friday, or (e) a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (c. 80) in any part of the United Kingdom.
- Undertaking
includes an association of undertakings.
- United Kingdom national
means—
- working day
means a day which is not— (a) Saturday, (b) Sunday, (c) Christmas Day, (d) Good Friday, or (e) a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (c. 80) in any part of the United Kingdom.