UK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Samantha Ward, Ben Jasper, Oliver Carroll and Bethany Downey, Clifford Chance LLP
Clifford Chance LLP 10 Upper Bank Street
London E14 5JJ UK
Tel: +44 207 006 8546 Fax: +44 207 006 8546 Email: Samantha.Ward@cliffordchance.com Web: www.cliffordchance.com
Introduction England and Wales has been one of the leading juris - dictions for antitrust litigation in Europe for over 30 years. The combination of a well-regulated jurisdiction for commercial litigation, specialist competition judg - es and an expert tribunal (the Competition Appeal Tri - bunal or CAT), and wide-ranging disclosure has made the UK an attractive destination for antitrust damages claims. In addition, following the introduction of opt- out collective actions before the CAT in 2015 there has been substantial growth in those claims, although there has been a marked slowdown in applications in 2025. Competition and Markets Authority Litigation Updates The CMA is the main competition regulator in the UK and its responsibilities include investigating markets, mergers and breaches of competition law. Each year it publishes an annual plan setting out its priorities, which provides insights on how the regulator will approach its investigations and antitrust litigation over the coming year. CMA 2025–2026 approach As set out in the CMA’s Annual Plan for 2025–2026, the current UK government has a mission for eco - nomic growth as its top priority. The UK government has indicated to the CMA that there must be a strong, independent competition and consumer protection regime, whilst situating this squarely in the context of the growth mission. The CMA has made it clear that it will focus its time on strategically important sectors within the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, and on cross-economy enablers (like technology adop -
tion and procurement) which have a multiplier effect on growth. The CMA will also focus on effective con - sumer protection, addressing the unfair behaviour of a minority of businesses which weakens consumer confidence and stymies growth, focusing sharply on clearly illegal conduct that results in tangible harms. We therefore expect to see a trend of more narrowly focused CMA engagement that seeks to use competi - tion law to enhance growth. Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 On 1 January 2025, the Digital Markets, Competi - tion and Consumers Act 2024 came into force. This Act contains important amendments to the existing competition regime. In relation to private litigation in particular, Part 2 includes provisions to expand the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to include the ability to grant declaratory relief. The competition reforms also include enhanced CMA investigative powers, includ - ing: (i) expanding the documents the CMA can col - lect when entering premises using a warrant to also include information accessible from the premises, in addition to documents stored on the premises; (ii) introducing new civil penalties where an individual fails to comply with the CMA’s investigatory powers; and (iii) introducing a duty on persons to preserve docu - ments where they know or suspect that an investiga - tion is, or is likely to be carried out by the CMA. Leniency In April 2025, the CMA published a consultation on proposed updates to its guidance on leniency and no- action in cartel cases. This is the first broad review of the leniency guidance in over a decade. The proposed
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