The UK Competition Regime: A Twenty-Year Retrospective

The UK competition law regime comprises primarily the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002, supplemented by provisions introduced by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015. The foundation of the modern framework of UK competition law, the Competition Act 1998, has entered its twentieth year of operation, having come into force on 1 March 2000. Since that particular date, UK competition law has developed significantly through both decisional practice and jurisprudence. It has also undergone a process of modernisation, including both institutional and substantive reform. After the passage of an eventful twenty years of enforcement and reform, it is now an appropriate time to engage in a serious process of critical reflection on the current shape of the UK’s competition regime and whether it is performing well its role of ‘making markets work well for consumers’. With this context in mind, the book examines in a robust and critical manner the first twenty years of the operation of the UK’s competition regime. It focuses on the main substantive and procedural issues and provides a comprehensive analysis of how the UK’s contemporary competition regime has dealt with the challenges posed by these issues. By doing so, the book not only articulates those areas of competition law that are working well in the UK, but also those areas where further reflection, refinement and possible reform are required.