Chapter 4: Cartels
Summary and Background
350.The main provisions of this Chapter of the Act provide for the removal of the dishonesty element in the cartel offence and the introduction of new circumstances in which the offence is not committed if certain persons are notified of relevant information or if that information is published in a prescribed manner. Individuals are given a defence if they did not intend that the nature of the cartel arrangements would be concealed from customers or the CMA, and the CMA is required to prepare, consult upon and publish guidance on the principles to be applied in determining whether to prosecute the cartel offence.
351.Sections 188 to 202 of the EA 2002 make provision, in relation to the criminal offence, for individuals who dishonestly agree to engage in cartel arrangements. Such arrangements, when carried out by undertakings (i.e companies or other entities engaged in economic activities) may also infringe the prohibitions in the CA 1998, which imposes civil sanctions on the undertakings concerned.
352.The offence is defined in sections 188 and 189 and occurs when an individual dishonestly agrees with one or more others that two or more undertakings will engage in one or more of the prohibited cartel activities. The offence only applies in respect of horizontal agreements (i.e. agreements relating to products or services at the same level in the supply chain - for example, agreements between car manufacturers, as opposed to vertical agreements between a manufacturer and a car dealership). The offence is committed irrespective of whether or not the agreement reached between the individuals is implemented by the undertakings, and irrespective of whether or not they have authority to act on behalf of the undertaking at the time of the agreement.
353.The prohibited activities (listed in section 188(2)) are price-fixing, limiting production or supply, market-sharing and bid-rigging. These activities comprise the most serious forms of anti-competitive activity and as such are a sub-set of the practices for which undertakings may be pursued under the civil provisions of the CA 1998. Price-fixing is defined so as to include the direct or indirect fixing of prices.
354.Section 188(3) requires that, in the case of price-fixing or limiting or preventing production or supply, and for the offence to be committed, the arrangements must also involve the other party reciprocally engaging in one of these activities. This means that arrangements are not criminal where they only require one party to fix prices or limit production or supply as defined. This additional requirement does not apply in the case of market-sharing and bid-rigging where the activities are by definition reciprocal.
355.Section 188(5) and (6) provide a definition of the activities that constitute bid-rigging for the purposes of the criminal offence. The effect of subsection (6) is that a person would not be guilty of the offence if the person requesting bids would (under the arrangements) be aware of them when the bid is made.
Section 47: Cartel offence
356.Section 47 amends section 188 by removing the requirement that an individual must be acting dishonestly. It then omits subsection (6) of section 188. This section introduces new disclosure provisions for all of the four categories of prohibited cartel activity compliance with which will take a person outside the criminal offence, and which in the case of bid-rigging largely replicate the effect of subsection (6).
357.A new section 188A sets out the circumstances in which the cartel offence is not committed. It provides that a person does not commit the cartel offence if, in the case of arrangements affecting the supply of a product or service, the customers would be given ‘relevant information’ before supply is agreed; or, in the case of bid-rigging, the person requesting bids would be given ‘relevant information’ before the time when a bid was made; or, in any case, ‘relevant information’ about the arrangements would be published before the arrangements were implemented in a manner specified in an order made by the Secretary of State. It would be for the prosecution to prove that these circumstances do not apply in relation to the arrangements.
358.Subsection (2) of the new section 188A defines ‘relevant information’. It is the names of the undertakings to which the arrangements relate, a description of the nature of the arrangements and the products or services to which they relate, and such other information as may be specified in an order made by the Secretary of State.
359.Subsections (3) and (4) of the new section 188A provide that an individual also does not commit the cartel offence when the agreement is made in order to comply with a legal requirement. A legal requirement in this context (and in relation to the exclusion from the Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 prohibitions in the CA 1998) means one imposed by or under an enactment in force in the UK, or by or under the TFEU or the European Economic Area Agreement and having effect in the UK without further enactment, or imposed by or under the law in force in another Member State and having legal effect in the UK.
360.Subsections (5) and (6) of the new section 188A make provision for the Secretary of State’s order-making power in subsection (2)(c). The power is exercisable by statutory instrument subject to the negative resolution procedure. It may be exercised so as to make different provision for different cases or different purposes, and may make such incidental, transitory, transitional or saving provision as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
361.The new section 188B provides defences to commission of the cartel offence. An individual will have a defence where he or she can show that (1) at the time of making the agreement he or she did not intend that the nature of the arrangements would be concealed from customers at all times before they enter into agreements for the supply to them of the product or service; or (2) at the time of making the agreement he or she did not intend that the nature of the arrangements would be concealed from the CMA; or (3) before making the agreement he or she took reasonable steps to ensure the nature of the arrangements would be disclosed to professional legal advisers for the purposes of obtaining advice about them before their making or their implementation.
362.The new section 190A requires the CMA to prepare and publish (in such manner as it considers appropriate) guidance on the principles to be applied in determining, in any case, whether proceedings for an offence under section 188(1) should be instituted. In preparing the guidance the CMA is required to consult the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, the Lord Advocate and such other persons as it considers appropriate.
363.Subsection (8) of section 47 makes transitional provision for agreements effective before the coming into force of the new section. It provides that the amendments made by subsections (1) to (6) of the section only apply to agreements falling within section 188(1) which are made after the commencement of the new section and which relate to arrangements made or to be made afterwards. This means that existing agreements and those made before commencement will continue to be subject to the cartel offence as currently enacted. Agreements made after commencement which relate to arrangements made before commencement will also continue to be subject to the current law.
Section 48: Extension of power to issue warrants to the Competition Appeal Tribunal
364.This section allows the CAT to issue warrants allowing a named officer of the CMA to enter premises as part of the investigation of a suspected cartel offence under section 188 of the EA 2002. At present, the power to issue warrants under section 194 of the EA 2002 is reserved to the High Court or, in Scotland, to a sheriff. The amendments to section 194 maintain the requirement for applications for a warrant to be made in accordance with rules of court if they are made to a court, and specify that applications to the CAT must be made in accordance with the equivalent CAT rules. The section also makes changes to Schedule 4 to the EA 2002 (which deals with the CAT’s procedures) consequent upon this section and section 41 and Schedule 13 which make corresponding provision extending to the CAT various powers to issue warrants to allow an investigation officer to enter premises as part of an investigation under the CA 1998. The changes enable the CAT’s rules to make provision for certain matters relating to the manner in which proceedings concerning applications for a warrant are to be conducted, including for the Tribunal dealing with the proceedings to consist only of the President of the CAT or a member of the panel of chairmen. The current provisions under Schedule 4 relating to the enforcement of decisions, the institution of proceedings and the conduct of a hearing are disapplied in respect of proceedings in relation to warrants.
