Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and... (22026A02305)

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Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and... (22026A02305)

2026/2305

19.10.2026

Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland regarding cooperation on the application of their respective competition laws

THE EUROPEAN UNION (‘the Union’),

of the one part, and

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND (‘the United Kingdom’),

of the other part,

referred to individually as ‘Party’ or together as ‘Parties’,

RECOGNISING the benefits of working with like-minded partners on issues of shared interest,

CONSIDERING the need for a balanced economic partnership to be underpinned by effective competition in the respective markets,

NOTING that the Parties share the view that the sound and effective enforcement of their respective competition laws is a matter of importance to the efficient operation of their respective markets and to trade between them,

ACKNOWLEDGING that this Agreement frames existing cooperation, with a view to reinforcing the relationship of the Union and the Union Member States with the United Kingdom,

RECOGNISING that cooperation and coordination, including the sharing of information, can contribute to the sound and effective enforcement of the competition laws of each Party,

ACKNOWLEDGING that the European Commission and the competition authorities of the Union Member States can share with the competition authority of the United Kingdom only information obtained through their own means of investigation,

HAVING REGARD to Article 361(4) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, of 30 December 2020 (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’), which states that the Parties may enter into a separate agreement on cooperation and coordination in competition matters,

ACKNOWLEDGING that this Agreement is a supplementing agreement to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement,

HAVING REGARD to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/1772 of 28 June 2021 pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by the United Kingdom, and to Schedule 21 to the Data Protection Act 2018, as inserted by the United Kingdom Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which relates to the adequate protection of personal data by the Union,

NOTING that the cooperation and coordination mechanism established by this Agreement allowing for cooperation and coordination between the competition authorities of the Union or of its Member States, of the one part, and of the United Kingdom, of the other part, is intended to be exhaustive as regards the application of the Union's competition laws,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Purpose

The purpose of this Agreement is to promote cooperation and coordination in competition matters between competition authorities of the Union and of its Member States, of the one part, and of the United Kingdom, of the other part, in order to enhance the effective enforcement of the competition laws of the Union and of the United Kingdom.

Article 2

Definitions and related interpretation

1. In this Agreement:

‘competition authorities’ or, as the case may be, ‘competition authority’, means, without prejudice to paragraph 3,

(i) on the one side, for the Union, as the context may require, the European Commission, one or more of the national competition authorities of the Union Member States listed in the Annex to this Agreement, or one or more of these along with the European Commission, insofar as they exercise functions under the competition laws of the Union, and

(ii) on the other, for the United Kingdom, the Competition and Markets Authority, insofar as it exercises functions under the competition laws of the United Kingdom,

‘competition laws’ means, as the context may require,

(i) for the Union, one or more of Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings, and their implementing regulations, including any existing or subsequent amendments to or replacements of any item listed in this subparagraph b.(i), and

(ii) for the United Kingdom, one or more of:

the Competition Act 1998 (Chapter 41);

ii.

Part 3 (Mergers) of the Enterprise Act 2002 (Chapter 40) excluding any provisions of that Part insofar as they relate to the public interest aspects of an investigation into a merger which is subject to an intervention on public interest grounds or to Chapter 3A of that Part (Mergers involving newspaper enterprises and foreign powers);

iii.

Part 4 (Market Studies and Market Investigations) of the Enterprise Act 2002 excluding any provisions of that Part insofar as they relate to the public interest aspects of a market investigation reference or of a possible market investigation reference which is subject to an intervention on public interest grounds;

iv.

Part 6 (Cartel offence) of the Enterprise Act 2002;

sections 9A to 9E of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 (Chapter 46);

vi.

articles 13A to 13E of the Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/3150 (N.I. 4)); and

vii.

any subordinate legislation made under the provisions listed in i to vi,

including any existing or subsequent amendments to, or replacements of, those laws or regulations,

for the Union, ‘domestic law’ means the whole of law and regulation, including case-law, of the Union and of its Member States,

‘enforcement activities’ means any application of competition laws by way of investigation or proceedings conducted by a competition authority.

2. Where a competition authority changes its name, or the functions of a competition authority are transferred to another authority, a reference to that competition authority in this Agreement shall be treated as a reference to the authority under its new name or to the successor authority, insofar as the renamed authority or successor authority (as the case may be) continues to exercise, or exercises, functions under the competition laws of the relevant Party.

3. This Agreement applies to cooperation and coordination between competition authorities of both Parties and is not intended to apply, outside that context, to cooperation and coordination between competition authorities of one Party only. References in this Agreement to competition authorities having dealings with each other or to their cooperating or coordinating with other competition authorities under this Agreement are to be interpreted accordingly.

Article 3

Notifications

1. If a competition authority considers that any of its enforcement activities is likely to affect the important interests of the other Party, it shall notify the other competition authorities concerned of that enforcement activity.

2. The notification mentioned in paragraph 1 shall take place promptly after the first publication of an investigative step in the relevant enforcement activity.

Article 4

Coordination of enforcement activities

1. If competition authorities pursue or intend to pursue the same or related enforcement activities, they may agree that it is in their mutual interest to coordinate their enforcement activities, including as regards the voluntary provision of information by undertakings or natural persons.

2. A competition authority involved in any such coordination may at any time inform the other competition authorities involved that it intends to limit or terminate the coordination and pursue enforcement activities independently and without prejudice to the other provisions of this Agreement.

Article 5

Negative comity

1. Within the framework of the domestic law applicable to them and to the extent compatible with their own important interests, competition authorities shall give careful consideration to each other's important interests throughout all phases of their enforcement activities.

2. If it appears that a competition authority's enforcement activities may adversely affect the important interests of any of the other competition authorities, the competition authorities concerned shall make all reasonable efforts to arrive at an appropriate accommodation of each other's important interests.

Article 6

Sharing of information

1. Competition authorities may share information among themselves, to the extent that the sharing of that information is lawful under applicable domestic law, including that on confidentiality and data protection.

2. If two or more competition authorities are pursuing enforcement activities concerning the same or related subject matters, or matters of common interest, the competition authorities concerned shall, on request of any of them, consider inquiring, to the extent possible and consistent with their own important interests and reasonably available resources, whether identifiable legal or natural persons that have provided confidential information in connection with those enforcement activities consent in writing to the sharing of such information between the competition authorities concerned. It is not necessary for a competition authority to seek that consent to the extent that the sharing of that information without consent is permitted by applicable domestic law.

3. Any information shared under this Agreement and the fact that a request for information sharing has been sent, received or replied to, as well as the existence of cooperation pursuant to this Agreement, may be disclosed among the competition authorities of the Union to the extent that such disclosure is lawful under the domestic law applicable to them. The European Commission may also disclose information transmitted by the competition authority of the United Kingdom under this Agreement to the EFTA Surveillance Authority in furtherance of the European Commission's obligations under Articles 6 and 7 of Protocol 23 to the Agreement on the European Economic Area of 2 March 1992 concerning the cooperation between the surveillance authorities.

4. Information shared under this Agreement may not be further disclosed to other domestic authorities or to competition law authorities of third countries except with the prior written approval of the initially transmitting competition authority of the disclosure of the information concerned to the specific authority concerned. No information shared under this Agreement may be further disclosed to an authority in a third country which is not a competition law authority.

5. No competition authority is obliged to share information pursuant to this Agreement. Subject to applicable domestic law, each competition authority retains discretion in selecting any information to be shared.

6. Personal data may be transferred under this Agreement by the transmitting and receiving competition authorities only for purposes compatible with the purposes for which the personal data were initially collected.

Article 7

Use of information shared

1. Without prejudice to Article 6(4), information shared under this Agreement shall not be used other than for the purposes of enforcing competition laws. Information, other than publicly available information, that is disclosed to the EFTA Surveillance Authority pursuant to Article 6(3) shall not be used for any purpose other than the enforcement of the Union's competition laws by the European Commission.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, competition authorities may, with the consent of the transmitting competition authority, use information shared under this Agreement for purposes other than the enforcement of competition laws if that use is in accordance with the terms of that consent.

3. Information shared under this Agreement may be used in evidence by the receiving competition authorities only for the enforcement of competition laws with respect to the subject-matter for which that information was initially obtained by the transmitting competition authority.

4. Information transmitted under this Agreement may be used in evidence to impose sanctions on natural persons only if:

(a) the law applicable to the competition authority that initially obtained the information provides for sanctions of a similar kind in relation to an infringement of competition laws,

or, in the absence of such sanctions,

(b) the information concerned has initially been obtained in a way which respects the same level of protection of the rights of defence of natural persons as that provided for under the rules of the receiving authority, provided that the information concerned is not used by the receiving authority to impose custodial sanctions.

5. A transmitting competition authority may specify terms and conditions under which the information transmitted may be used. A receiving competition authority shall not use that information in a manner contrary to such terms and conditions without the express prior written consent of the transmitting competition authority.

Article 8

Confidentiality

1. A competition authority shall maintain the confidentiality of any non-public information shared under this Agreement, including, unless the transmitting competition authority agrees otherwise, the existence of a request for information sharing.

2. If disclosure is requested or required under the domestic law applicable to a competition authority in receipt of information transmitted under this Agreement, that competition authority shall promptly inform the transmitting competition authority and, in close cooperation with the latter, take measures to limit any disclosure of information shared under this Agreement to what is necessary to comply with the applicable domestic law, to ensure that confidentiality remains protected to the extent possible under that domestic law.

3. Nothing in this Article prevents the disclosure of any information if that information has on an earlier occasion been disclosed to the public in circumstances which do not contravene this Agreement.

Article 9

Accidental use or disclosure

If a competition authority in receipt of information shared under this Agreement becomes aware that that information has accidentally been used or disclosed in a manner contrary to this Agreement, it shall inform the transmitting competition authority promptly. The competition authorities involved in the sharing of that information shall promptly confer on appropriate steps to minimise any harm resulting from such use or disclosure, taking into account the specific risk for the undertakings or natural persons concerned and the nature of that risk.

Article 10

Dialogue on technical matters relating to the functioning of the Agreement

The European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority may each seek a dialogue with the other to discuss technical matters relating to the functioning of this Agreement. The European Commission may extend any such dialogue to one or more of the national competition authorities listed in the Annex.

Article 11

Review

No later than two years after entry into force of this Agreement and on the request of either Party, the Parties shall initiate a joint review of the implementation of this Agreement with a view to further developing their cooperation in the application of their competition laws.

Article 12

Existing law

Nothing in this Agreement shall require a change to existing domestic law, or require a competition authority to take any action that is inconsistent with existing domestic law, or prevent a competition authority from taking any action required by existing domestic law.

Article 13

Communications under this Agreement

1. Communications under this Agreement may be carried out by simple means, such as email, unless the competition authorities concerned agree otherwise having regard to, in particular, a possible need to use more secured means to share information.

2. Any request for a review under Article 11 shall be made in writing through diplomatic channels between the Parties.

Article 14

Final provisions

1. Each Party shall approve this Agreement in accordance with its own procedures. Each Party shall notify the other of the completion of the respective procedures.

2. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the month during which the last notification provided for in paragraph 1 has been made.

3. This Agreement shall remain in force until 60 days after the date on which either Party has notified the other Party in writing that it wishes to terminate this Agreement.

4. This Agreement is not subject to dispute settlement under Title I of Part Six of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

5. Pursuant to Article 779 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, this Agreement is terminated upon termination of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

6. After termination, all information shared under this Agreement shall continue to be protected in accordance with the protection and safeguards set out in Articles 6 to 9.

This Agreement shall be drawn up in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish languages, each text being equally authentic.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorised, have signed this Agreement.

[Bild bitte in Originalquelle ansehen]

ANNEX

Member State of the Union	Authority
Belgium	Belgian Competition Authority Belgische Mededingingsautoriteit / Autorité belge de la Concurrence
Bulgaria	Commission on Protection of Competition Комисия за защита на конкуренцията
Czechia	Office for the Protection of Competition Úřad pro ochranu hospodářské soutěže
Denmark	Danish Competition and Consumer Authority Konkurrence- og Forbrugerstyrelsen
Germany	German Competition Authority Bundeskartellamt
Estonia	Estonian Competition Authority Konkurentsiamet
Ireland	Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Coimisiún um Iomaíocht agus Cosaint Tomhaltóiri
Greece	Hellenic Competition Commission Επιτροπή Ανταγωνισμού
Spain	National Markets and Competition Commission Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia
France	French Competition Authority Autorité de la Concurrence
Croatia	Croatian Competition Agency Agencija za zaštitu tržišnog natjecanja
Italy	Italian Competition Authority Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato
Cyprus	Commission for the Protection of Competition Επιτροπή Προστασίας του Ανταγωνισμού
Latvia	Competition Council Konkurences padome
Lithuania	Competition Council of the Republic of Lithuania Lietuvos Respublikos konkurencijos taryba
Luxembourg	Luxembourg Competition Authority Autorité de la Concurrence
Hungary	Hungarian Competition Authority Gazdasági Versenyhivatal
Malta	Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority Awtorita ta' Malta għall-Kompetizzjoni u għall-Affarijet tal-Konsumatur
Netherlands	Authority for Consumers and Markets Autoriteit Consument en Markt
Austria	Austrian Competition Authority Bundeswettbewerbsbehörde
Poland	Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Urzad Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów
Portugal	Portuguese Competition Authority Autoridade da Concorrência
Romania	Romanian Competition Council Consiliul Concurenţei
Slovenia	Slovenian Competition Protection Agency Javna Agencija Republike Slovenije za Varstvo Konkurence
Slovakia	Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic Protimonopolný úrad Slovenskej republiky
Finland	Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto
Sweden	Swedish Competition Authority Konkurrensverket

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/agree_internation/2026/2305/oj

ISSN 1977-0677 (electronic edition)