Consultation: Revising the Enforcement guidelines for Competition Act investigations

The Enforcement guidelines for Competition Act investigations set out how Ofcom will approach enforcement of competition law that prohibits anti-competitive agreements and/or conduct under Chapter I and/or Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998.

Following several changes to the Competition Act regime, we are proposing to revise the Guidelines to reflect current legislation and policy, including new powers and duties arising from the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and current CMA guidance.

This consultation seeks views from stakeholders on the above proposals, which are set out more fully in the consultation document. 

The Enforcement guidelines for Competition Act investigations set out how Ofcom will approach enforcement of competition law that prohibits anti-competitive agreements and/or conduct under Chapter I and/or Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998. The Guidelines were last updated on 28 June 2017 and, since this time, there have been several changes to the Competition Act regime and our approach to regulatory investigations more generally. 

We are now proposing to revise the Guidelines to: 

• reflect current legislation and policy, including new powers and duties arising from the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and current CMA guidance; 
• incorporate our experience of running investigations in practice;
• update our position on the settlement conditions and the settlement discount; and 
• improve accessibility for readers. 

This consultation seeks views from stakeholders on the above proposals, which are set out more fully in the consultation document. We have also published in draft a revised version of the Guidelines alongside this consultation document. We encourage stakeholders to read the draft revised Guidelines in full to understand all the proposed changes. 

Responding to our consultation

Please submit responses using the response form no later than 5pm 6 November 2026. We plan to publish our final decision in Spring 2027.