Competition Act 1998

Competition authority etc U.K.

[F1 3. (1) “Competition authority” means—

(a) the CMA,

(b) a regulator, so far as it exercises functions under Part 1 of this Act concurrently with the CMA,

(c) the Commission, and

(d) a member State competition authority.

(2) A “member State competition authority” means an authority designated by a member State other than the United Kingdom, under Article 35 of the EC Competition Regulation, as being responsible for the application of Article 101 and Article 102 of the Treaty.

(3) “Investigation materials”, in relation to a competition authority, means—

(a) information prepared by a person (other than a competition authority) for the purpose of an investigation by the competition authority into an infringement of competition law;

(b) information sent by the competition authority, during the course of such an investigation, to an undertaking which is the subject of the investigation;

(c) a settlement submission which has been withdrawn.

(4) Subsections (3) and (4) of section 58A apply for the purposes of determining when a decision of the CMA, a regulator or the Commission becomes “final”.

(5) A decision of a member State competition authority becomes “final”—

(a) when the time for appealing against it expires without an appeal having been brought, or

(b) where an appeal has been brought against the decision, when—

(i) the appeal and any further appeal in relation to the decision has been decided or has otherwise ended, and

(ii) the time for appealing against the result of the appeal or further appeal has expired without another appeal having been brought.

(6) Where the law of a member State other than the United Kingdom requires or enables a member State competition authority to bring proceedings before a court of the member State in relation to an infringement of Article 101(1) or Article 102, rather than making a decision itself in relation to the infringement—

(a) references to an investigation by a competition authority into an infringement of competition law include such proceedings brought by the member State competition authority;

(b) references to a competition authority closing an investigation include the termination of such proceedings by the member State competition authority or by another person, except where the competition authority’s investigation of the infringement continues after the proceedings terminate;

(c) references to a decision of a competition authority include a decision of a court in such proceedings;

(d) sub-paragraph (5) applies in relation to a decision of a court in such proceedings as it applies in relation to a decision of a member State competition authority.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 8A inserted (9.3.2017) by The Claims in respect of Loss or Damage arising from Competition Infringements (Competition Act 1998 and Other Enactments (Amendment)) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/385), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 4 (with Sch. 1 para. 5)