The development of British competition law. A complete overhaul and harmonization

The differences between the four régimes

Even from the brief descriptions of the four régimes that I have given – the common

law doctrine of restraint of trade, the monopolies and mergers régime, the restrictive

practices and resale price maintenance régime and the EC rules on competition and

mergers, it can be seen that they differ from each other in fundamental respects.

In particular the EC régime lays down ex ante prohibitions, breaches of which

expose the responsible undertaking or undertakings to liability to the imposition of

potentially massive penalties by an administrative body, namely the EC

Commission. By contrast the UK monopolies legislation prohibits nothing ex ante

and relies almost entirely on investigation of individual situations and subsequently

adopted remedies having only prospective effect. Secondly, the EC régime

concentrates on economic effects on competition; by contrast the UK monopolies

and mergers legislation adopts an open-ended definition of the public interest; and

the application of the restrictive trade practices régime depends on technical rules

relating to legal form rather than economic effect.