Is more like Europe Better?: an Economic Evaluation of Recent Changes in UK Competition Policy.

The 1998 Competition Act represents a major change in the content and practice of competition policy in the United Kingdom, bringing it into line with European policy as practised under Articles 85 and 86. The paper presents an economic evaluation of the new provisions, and of the draft Guidelines issued by the Office of Fair Trading which indicate how the Office believes the policy should be applied. The paper concludes that there are likely to be substantial gains for policy in general, but suggests that the incorporation of Article 86 without amendment is likely to create difficulties