Guidance

Competition law: guide for public authorities

Published 15 June 2026

Competition law, underpinned by effective enforcement, helps to support dynamic, competitive markets, driving productivity, innovation and investment.

Public authorities (for example, government departments, local authorities, and arm’s-length bodies) and their officials often interact with markets in ways that mean competition law may be relevant to their work. In particular:

• public authorities may carry out economic activities, in which case they will generally be subject to competition law when performing those activities

• public authorities (whether or not they carry out economic activities) and their officials may convene or collaborate with industry – for example, to inform or deliver on government policy objectives, or to get information – in which case they need to take care not to inadvertently encourage or facilitate businesses to break competition law

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a strategic commitment to step up its role as an enabler of competition. As part of this, we are keen to help ensure the important work of public authorities is not slowed down or hampered by undue concerns or misperceptions about competition law.

This guide is designed to help officials working in public authorities spot and more confidently navigate competition law considerations in day-to-day work.

Part 1 introduces competition law and explains some core concepts.

Part 2 sets out common scenarios in which competition law might be relevant to the work of public authorities, and practical steps to consider.

Part 3 provides links to further resources, and information on when and how to contact the CMA.

This is not formal guidance. You may need to read the detail in relevant CMA guidance and seek legal advice where appropriate.

Public authorities may also grant subsidies that are subject to subsidy control. For more on this, read the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) guidance and other information about the UK subsidy control regime.

1. What is competition law?

Competition law is designed to protect businesses and consumers from anti-competitive behaviour. It promotes competitive markets, which in turn helps to keep prices low and quality high, and to spur innovation, investment and productivity – opening up access to markets and ensuring a level playing field for all businesses to innovate and grow.

Competition law prohibits anti-competitive agreements or arrangements that restrict competition. For example:

• price-fixing: agreements or coordination between competing firms for example about the prices charged to customers or with respect to price rises
• market-sharing: agreements between competing firms to share markets or customers
• bid-rigging: where businesses conspire to manipulate (‘rig’) tenders in their favour

It also stops a business that has market power, called a ‘dominant position’, from abusing that power to exploit customers or exclude competitors. For example, this could be through excessive pricing, predatory pricing, refusal to supply, or treating equivalent customers differently without objective justification.

For more information about competition law, read our short guidance on how to comply with competition law, and our guidance on collaborating with other businesses.

Exemptions and exclusions from competition law

Some agreements or arrangements, that may otherwise break competition law, might benefit from an exemption or an exclusion.

Competition law recognises that in some cases, business collaboration can be net beneficial – even where it results in some loss of competition – based on an assessment of the efficiencies and benefits it creates. In practice this is usually achieved through the application of the ‘Section 9 exemption’ under the Competition Act 1998 (see section 2 of our guidance on horizontal agreements). For example, a Section 9 exemption was relied on for industry collaboration (facilitated by HM Treasury) in Pool Re to ensure the continued provision of insurance for terrorism risks. Where a category of agreements is likely to meet the conditions for a Section 9 exemption, such agreements may be covered by a block exemption.

An agreement or conduct will be excluded from competition law where it is necessary to comply with a legal requirement. Agreements will also be excluded from competition law where they are covered by a public policy exclusion order. In exceptional circumstances and usually for a limited time, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade can make a public policy exclusion order if they are satisfied that there are exceptional and compelling reasons of public policy why competition law should not apply – such as enabling a rapid and coordinated response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Consequences of breaking competition law

Breaking competition law can have serious consequences. These include:

• the relevant agreement or decision being unenforceable
• financial penalties
• being excluded from public sector contracts
• the possibility of claims for damages by a third party that has suffered loss as a result

It can also have an adverse reputational impact. Individuals can face consequences too, such as being disqualified from working as a company director.

For more about consequences, read our Competition Act 1998 guidance.

Pro-competitive, beneficial collaboration

Many collaborations between businesses do not raise any competition law concerns, and can in fact be good for competition. As part of its 2026 to 2029 strategy, the CMA is doing more to enable pro-growth business collaboration. If you hear concerns that the perceived risk of breaking competition law is getting in the way of businesses collaborating in ways that might have wider benefits (for example, to improve efficiencies, innovation, growth or other wider economic benefits), let us know at collaborations@cma.gov.uk

For more, read our guidance on collaborating with other businesses.

2. Common scenarios and practical tips

Below we set out some common scenarios in which competition law may be relevant to the work of public authorities, and some practical tips.

When performing an ‘economic activity’

In general, public authorities that carry out economic activities are subject to competition law when carrying out those activities. In broad terms, an economic activity involves supplying a good or service of a commercial nature (which can include non-profit making activity).  For detailed guidance on when the activities of a public authority would be subject to competition law, read our guidance on public bodies and competition law and our general guidance on how to comply with competition law.

Competition law may not apply in full to certain bodies that supply what are known as ‘services of general economic interest’ – for example the universal postal service obligation  and Royal Mail (read chapter 3 of our guidance on public bodies and competition law).

Market participants in a ‘dominant position’ have special responsibilities under competition law in the way they treat customers and competitors. A public authority that is undertaking economic activities in a market in which it has a substantial market share (greater than 30%), or very few competitors, should take care not to use its market power to exploit customers or exclude competitors.

Practical tips

Where public authorities are selling goods or services, they should assess whether they are performing economic activities, and if so ensure that those activities comply with competition law.

Where public authorities are selling goods or services, they should consider whether they may be dominant in that market, and the types of conduct that would amount to abusing a dominant position in a market. For example, they should:

• take care not to set prices so low that they do not cover the costs of the product or services sold, such that competitors are excluded from the market
• ensure that where they offer different prices or terms to similar customers, they have an objective justification for those differences
• not refuse to supply an existing or longstanding customer without objective justification

For more information about abusing a dominant position, read our guidance on how to comply with competition law.

When collecting, collating, and/or sharing information

Public authorities will sometimes collect sensitive information from businesses – for example, government departments may want to ensure policy proposals are informed by a good understanding of the relevant sector and stakeholders. Public authorities will also often share information as part of transparent and open government – for example, by publishing analysis and reports. Public authorities need to take particular care when collecting or sharing competitively sensitive information.

Competitively sensitive information is information that, when exchanged with competitors, is likely to reduce competitive uncertainty in a market and/or is capable of influencing the competitive strategy of other businesses.

What information is competitively sensitive will depend on the particular context. It generally includes, but is not limited to:

• future pricing and output plans
• current or future commercial strategy
• forecasts of future sales

Exchanging competitively sensitive information between competitors (either directly or indirectly through an intermediary, including through a public authority) can restrict competition by reducing competitive uncertainty in the market and facilitating collusion between competitors.

It’s important to consider, for example:

• how current the information is, and how much it reveals about business strategy; older information (or statements concerning past events) is less likely to be competitively sensitive than current information (or statements concerning current events); statements concerning future events are more likely to be competitively sensitive; genuinely public information (that is, information that is already readily available to the public) is generally unlikely to be competitively sensitive
• how specific the information is: information that is shared on an aggregated and anonymised basis is far less likely to be competitively sensitive, particularly if individual business’ commercial activities cannot be identified

For more detail, read our guidance on horizontal agreements (from paragraph 8.33).

It can be useful to consider strategies to help avoid the risk that competitively sensitive information is exchanged.

Practical tips

When a public authority is collating or sharing information with industry, consider whether it contains information that may be competitively sensitive information – and if there is any question about it, either do not disclose the information, or seek legal advice before disclosing it.

When a public authority is engaged in an economic activity in a market, and is gathering information in relation to that market, extra precautions may be necessary. Consider whether any of the information is competitively sensitive, and if so, how to handle it (for example, appropriate measures to limit and control how data is accessed/used).

When convening industry stakeholders

Public authorities often convene industry, for example, to:

• improve the public authority’s understanding of what is going on in a market
• share information held by the public authority
• seek views on policy
• respond to an emerging issue

In these circumstances, it can be useful to consider strategies to help avoid the risk that industry stakeholders share competitively sensitive information with each other. But competition law does not prohibit (and should not get in the way of) other kinds of information sharing – which can be beneficial not just for public authorities and industry stakeholders, but also for consumers, in that it can enable the development of new or better products or services.

Practical tips

When convening industry, public authorities should consider taking steps to avoid sharing of competitively sensitive information or facilitating market coordination.

For example, consider:

• including a clear agenda so that the discussions do not stray into areas that may be competitively sensitive (for example, pricing or wage-setting intentions, or commercial strategy)
• telling participants that you will take thorough minutes
• sharing information on competition law and competitively sensitive information (for example, read managing competitively sensitive information)
• reminding participants that they should not share or discuss competitively sensitive information (both during the meeting, and in any communications beforehand), and that they are ultimately responsible for their own compliance with competition law

If you think that a participant has shared competitively sensitive information, state your objection straight away and end the meeting. Consider reporting your concern to the CMA.

When seeking to achieve a market outcome through collaboration with industry

Public authorities may seek to achieve a market outcome by, for example, encouraging voluntary agreements from businesses. Depending on the circumstances, industry self-regulation and competition law may be compatible – but it can be useful to consider strategies to help avoid the risk that any agreements breach competition law.

For more about collaborating with other businesses, including what makes a good collaboration, read our guidance on collaborating with other businesses.

Practical tips

When seeking to achieve a policy outcome in a market by working with industry (for example, to reduce consumption of a harmful product), consider whether any agreement on how to meet that outcome may be anti-competitive. This is particularly important where achieving these outcomes involves coordination of prices, output, or other parameters on which businesses in the market would normally compete.

Consider whether imposing a legal requirement on industry would be an appropriate way to seek a desired market outcome. For example, if a public authority sought to reduce consumption of a harmful product by setting a minimum price, it could consider setting that minimum price in law – so that no agreement is required.

For more detailed guidance on competition law and agreements between actual or potential competitors, read our guidance on horizontal agreements.

3. More information, resources and contacts

Report any anti-competitive behaviour to us

We also know that as a public authority official, you may be well placed to spot when things might be going wrong, such as if:

• it seems that competing businesses might be co-ordinating in a way that may restrict competition, such as price-fixing, market-sharing, or bid-rigging (see our guidance on cheating or competing)
• a business with market power might be acting in a way that may discourage new entry or make it more difficult for smaller businesses to compete

In any of these scenarios, the CMA is keen to hear from you.

Report a cartel (where 2 or more businesses agree not to compete with each other) online or by emailing cartelshotline@cma.gov.uk

Wider impacts of policy on competition in markets

Policymakers often work on policies that can have a significant impact on competition and consumers, and how markets work, even if they do not directly engage competition law. It can be useful to consider the competition implications of policy proposals at an early stage to help ensure that policy development is harnessing the benefits of competition and well-functioning markets to help deliver on policy objectives. Equally, we recognise that there are cases where legitimate public policy aims take precedence over the impacts of policy on competition, and any trade-offs and balances are rightly for elected representatives to judge.

The CMA’s competition assessment guidelines for policymakers can help you assess the impact that policy proposals will have on competition. As part of our 2026 to 2029 strategy, we are stepping up our role as an enabler of competition, providing expert advice and recommendations to government with a particular focus on public procurement and regulatory barriers. Contact advocacy@cma.gov.uk if you would like advice from us on this.

Engaging with us on a competition law issue

The CMA cannot give legal advice about competition law guidance.

The Competition Policy team in DBT acts as the sponsor team for the CMA. Part of their role is to support effective engagement between the CMA and government departments or other public bodies on competition issues.

To engage with the CMA on a competition law issue, please either contact the Competition Policy team or include them on any correspondence – their email address is competitionpolicy@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Contact advocacy@cma.gov.uk if you have any questions about or feedback on this guide.

Read our other guidance

For more, read our:

• short guide to compliance with competition law
• more detailed guidance on anti-competitive agreements and arrangements

For detailed guidance on when the activities of a public authority would be subject to competition law, read Public bodies and competition law.

For more on business collaboration, read our guide to collaborating with other businesses. Email collaborations@cma.gov.uk to tell us about situations where the perceived risk of breaking competition law is getting in the way of business collaboration that might have wider benefits.