Ofwat, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and other sector regulators concurrently enforce and apply the Competition Act 1998 (CA98). This prohibits conduct, agreements and business practices that damage competition in the United Kingdom. Details about how CA98 is applied in the water and sewerage sectors are available on the OFT website.In brief, CA98 prohibits:

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

We have powers to investigate businesses (including public bodies) suspected of breaching CA98 and impose tough penalties on those that do.  We can decide whether Chapter I prohibitions, Chapter II prohibitions, or both, have been infringed.

The OFT’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 appeals or judgments on decisions made by us.

The OFT's competition law web page has more information about CA98, including links to their 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 and we do not accept responsibility for any advice given by the Scheme. Free legal advice may also be available from other sources.