In the UK, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 has made substantial amendments to the criminal cartel offence in the Enterprise Act 2002. These amendments removed the "dishonesty" element from the offence, introduced a series of circumstances preventing an agreement from amounting to a criminal cartel and introduced three substantive defences to the criminal cartel offence.

This article considers: the reasons for the dishonesty element in the criminal cartel offence under the Enterprise Act; the extent to which the dishonesty element of the offence was successful in achieving its original objectives; whether reform was necessary; how the reforms sought to address the problems of the previous system; and the effect the reforms will have on the enforcement of competition law and the conduct of companies and their employees.

This article is part of the PLC Competition and Cartel Leniency multi-jurisdictional guide. For a full list of jurisdictional Competition Q&As visit www.practicallaw.com/competition-mjg. For a full list of jurisdictional Cartel Leniency Q&As visit www.practicallaw.com/leniency-mjg.