Competiton Act 1998

This site uses the UK Government AccessKeys system	Protecting consumers, promoting value and safeguarding the future Skip Menus
	What's new \| Publications \| Media centre \| Price review \| FAQs Update alerts \| Consumer issues \| Site map \| Competition \| Contact us


Advanced Search \| Help

Ofwat home

Ofwat key work areas

Competition

Water Supply Licensing

FAQs

Self-lay

Competition Act 1998

CA98 Decisions

Report on concurrency

Publications

Competition Complaint Reports

Ofwat home > Ofwat key work areas > Competition > Competition Act 1998

Competition Act 1998

The Competition Act 1998 (CA98) is applied and enforced by the Office of Fair Trading concurrently with Ofwat and certain other sector regulators. CA98 prohibits agreements, business practices and conduct that damage competition in the United Kingdom. Full details about the application of CA98 in the water and sewerage sectors are available on the OFT website

In brief, CA98 prohibits:

anti-competitive agreements (known as Chapter 1 prohibition)); and
abuse of a dominant market position (known as the Chapter II prohibition).

Our powers include investigation into businesses (this can also include public bodies) suspected of breaching CA98 and imposing tough penalties on those that do.

We can make a decision that the Chapter I and/or Chapter II prohibitions have, or have not, been infringed. Please go to the list of the decisions made by us under CA98, which includes a summary of each decision.

The Office of Fair Trading's website has a CA98 Public Register, which includes information on notifications, consultations, decisions and interim measures directions carried out under CA98. Please see the Competition Appeal Tribunal's website for details of any appeals or judgments relating to decisions made by us. More information on CA98 can be found on the OFT's competition law web page. These include links to the OFT's revised competition law guidelines.

The Competition Pro Bono Scheme offers two hours of free independent legal advice to individuals or businesses who believe that their rights under competition law have been infringed or who are concerned that they may be infringing competition law.

The Competition Pro Bono Scheme is entirely independent of Ofwat. Ofwat does not accept responsibility for any advice given by the Scheme.

For further information see: http://www.probonogroup.org.uk/competition/

Free legal advice may also be available from other sources.

Disclaimer & Privacy Statement