Competition law risk is one of the key compliance risks that a business faces and it can be challenging to educate those working within the business about this often technical area of law. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recognise this and have a number of publicly available tools to assist that are worth your consideration.
In 2014 the CMA polled businesses in the UK to gauge what businesses understood about competition law and its application to them. The resulting report perhaps unsurprisingly confirmed that businesses often don’t know as much as they should about legal risks, the boundaries of competition law and what this means for them in practice.
These findings substantiated the CMA’s drive to support UK businesses in this regard, with a raft of practical materials to help businesses, of all sizes, understand more about competition law.
If you are not already aware of these materials it is worth familiarising yourself with them to see how you could use them to add value to your own internal competition compliance programme.
Competition law quiz
Want to test your knowledge of competition law? Take the CMA’s short quiz. This interactive teaser is a good means to introduce people in your business to the types of business behaviours competition law covers.
Competing fairly
These materials were developed in consultation with the Federation of Small Businesses and tested positively with businesses.
Guidance
- Competing fairly in business: at-a-glance guide to competition law
- How small businesses can comply with competition law: OFT1330
- Competition law checklist: identify where you business is at risk
Videos
Case studies
- Competition law case studies
- Online sellers price-fixing case study
- Estate agents cartel case study
- Resale price maintenance case studies
Competition law risk guide
This short guide was jointly published with the CMA and the Institute of Risk Management to help businesses comply with competition law. It provides a basic overview of competition law, outlining the steps businesses and risk professionals can take to help identify and reduce competition law risks. It also outlines what to do if competition law has been broken and provides case studies with key learnings.
60 second summaries
The CMA has selection of 60 second summaries (or ‘one page quick guides’) to explain the risks around certain business behaviours/practices following enforcement cases. These include:
- Price fixing: guidance for online sellers
- Resale price maintenance: advice for retailers
- Advice for company directors on avoiding disqualification Bid rigging: advice for public sector procurers
- Competition law: dos and don’ts for trade associations
- Competition law: advice for internal auditors
