EU and UK seal competition cooperation agreement with binding enforcement channel

The Council of the European Union gave final approval on 9 October 2026 to the agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom on cooperation between their competition authorities, closing the gap left by the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The approval is Council Decision (EU) 2026/2304, published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L series) on 19 October 2026, in the same issue as the full text of the agreement, OJ L 2026/2305.

The agreement had been signed on 25 February 2026 under Council Decision (EU) 2025/2376 of 4 November 2025, subject to conclusion at a later date. The European Parliament gave its consent on 16 September 2026, and the European Data Protection Supervisor, consulted under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, delivered an opinion on 15 July 2025. The Council acted on a proposal from the European Commission under Articles 103 and 352 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, read in conjunction with Article 218(6) and Article 218(8).

The text is a supplementing agreement within the meaning of Article 2 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, adopted on the basis of Article 361(4), which expressly allowed the parties to conclude a separate agreement on cooperation and coordination in competition matters. Cooperation already existed under Article 361(2); the new instrument turns it into a standing, binding framework and is declared exhaustive as regards the application of Union competition law. The decision entered into force on the date of its adoption.

Who is bound and what is covered

• On the Union side: the European Commission and the 27 national competition authorities listed in the Annex, among them the Bundeskartellamt, the Autorité de la Concurrence, the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato and the Autoriteit Consument en Markt.
• On the United Kingdom side: the Competition and Markets Authority.
• Union competition law covered: Articles 101, 102 and 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations.
• United Kingdom law covered: the Competition Act 1998, Parts 3, 4 and 6 of the Enterprise Act 2002, sections 9A to 9E of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and the equivalent Northern Ireland order.

Notification, coordination and negative comity

Article 3 requires an authority that considers its enforcement activity likely to affect the important interests of the other party to notify the authorities concerned, promptly after the first publication of an investigative step. Article 4 allows authorities pursuing the same or related proceedings to coordinate, including through the voluntary provision of information by undertakings or natural persons, and lets any of them limit or terminate coordination at any time.

Article 5 introduces a “negative comity” duty: each authority must give careful consideration to the others’ important interests throughout all phases of enforcement and make all reasonable efforts to accommodate them where its action may adversely affect them.

Information sharing under strict safeguards

Article 6 permits information sharing only where lawful under applicable domestic law, including confidentiality and data protection rules, and requires authorities to consider seeking the written consent of the persons who supplied confidential information. No authority is obliged to share anything. Shared information may be used only to enforce competition law for the subject matter for which it was obtained, may be used to sanction natural persons only under specified conditions, and may not be passed to third-country authorities without prior written approval. The European Commission may transmit United Kingdom information to the EFTA Surveillance Authority under Protocol 23 to the European Economic Area Agreement. Articles 8 and 9 set confidentiality and accidental-disclosure duties.

Entry into force, review and termination

Under Article 14, the agreement enters into force on the first day of the second month following the month in which the last notification of completed approval procedures is made, and remains in force until 60 days after either party notifies termination. It is excluded from dispute settlement under Title I of Part Six of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and terminates with that agreement under its Article 779. Article 11 provides for a joint review no later than two years after entry into force at the request of either party, and Article 10 opens a technical dialogue between the European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority, extendable to national authorities.

For companies facing parallel antitrust or merger reviews on both sides of the Channel, the agreement creates a formal, treaty-based channel for coordination and evidence sharing that previously rested only on a general cooperation clause, while the use and confidentiality limits keep shared material tied to competition enforcement.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/2304, 19 October 2026, p. 1 (official reference: Council Decision (EU) 2026/2304; agreement text at OJ L 2026/2305).