Few legal practitioners in the UK can be unaware of the introduction of the Competition Act 1998 (which came into force on 1 March 2000) and its impact upon commercial agreements/practices generally. Substantively, it prohibits agreements between undertakings, concerted practices and decisions by associations of undertakings i.e. decisions made by trade associations, which appreciably prevent, restrict or distort competition in the UK. Of course, this piece of national legislation is limited to the activities of businesses whose activities impact upon the competitiveness of the UK marketplace. The wider picture is provided by the European competition rules as embodied in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. However, both regimes essentially prevent the same range of activities save that the UK system only looks for adverse impact in the UK, whereas the European rules are concerned with adverse effects upon interstate trade and hence the competitiveness of the European marketplace.