2. Overview of EU and UK competition law

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of EU and UK competition law. Founded through the Treaty of European Union and the Treaty of Functioning of the European Union, the EU competition law is concerned with the eradication of obstacles to the free movement of goods, services, persons, and capital; establishment of public procurement regime; and creation of the Euro and the ‘Europe 2020 Strategy’. Today, the EU competition law involves both an economic analysis of business practices and legal procedure whose designated authorities are the European Commission and the EU Courts. Playing an important part in optimising economic policy, UK competition law was reinvented through these pieces of legislations, namely Competition Act 1998, Enterprise Act 2002, and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 which initiated stark changes in monitoring competition authorities, conducting transaction investigations, and related legal procedures.