The 35th edition of Chitty on Contracts has been published by Sweet and Maxwell, in which Competition law barrister Matthew O’Regan is an editor.
Chitty is the leading reference work on contract law in the Common law world.
In Chapter 46, which was substantially rewritten to reflect that the UK is no longer an EU Member State and that EU competition law ceased to have effect in the UK on 31 December 2020 (although it remains applicable to agreements and conduct before that date, including in claims for losses caused by infringements of EU competition law committed before that date), Matthew examines in detail the application of UK competition law to contracts. This includes consideration of:
- The application of new competition legislation to contracts, including the National Security and Investment Act 2021 and the Subsidy Control Act 2022
- New UK block exemption orders applicable to vertical agreements and to research and development agreements and specialisation agreements
- Recent case law of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, including BGL v Competition and Markets Authority (most favoured nation clauses, restriction of competition by effect), Churchill Gowns v Ede & Ravenscroft (exclusive agreements) and a number of judgments relating to collective damages actions, including BT v Le Patourel and London and South Eastern Railway v Gutmann (making of collective proceedings orders) and Merricks v Mastercard (Preliminary Issues) (collective proceedings, applicable law)
- Recent judgments of the EU courts, which have persuasive authority in applying the Competition Act 1998, which is based on EU competition law, including Visma Enterprise v Konkurrencespadome and Super Bock v Autoridade da Concorrência (vertical agreements, restriction of competition by object) and Google v Commission (Google Shopping), Google v Commission (Google Android), Meta Platforms v Bundeskartellamt, Qualcomm v Commission and Unilever v Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (contractual provisions as abuse of dominant position)
Chitty on Contracts is available in both hardback and electronic formats by visiting this page.
Matthew has a broad-based practice, with extensive experience of all aspects of UK and EU competition law, state aid and subsidy control, and economic regulation. He is regularly instructed to advise on the application of competition law to a wide range of commercial agreements. Details of his practice can be found here.
If you would like to instruct Matthew, please contact his clerks on: [email protected] or 0117 923 4740.