A New, Tougher Criminal Antitrust Regime In The UK

A new antitrust authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has been established in the UK. It replaced two former UK antitrust authorities as of April 1. With the CMA comes a new regime for criminal antitrust investigations whose goal, according to a publication from Jones Day, “is to make it easier for the CMA to bring criminal proceedings against individuals who allegedly have been involved in cartels.” One significant change is the removal of the requirement that a person must have “dishonestly” engaged in cartel activities for there to be a criminal offense. New defenses, however, are also established. A leading UK business lobbying group, the Confederation of British Industry, argues that the new rules are unworkable and could criminalize many standard commercial transactions.