UPDATE - EU, UK sign landmark competition cooperation agreement

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY UK BUSINESS SECRETARY

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - The European Commission and the UK on Wednesday signed a competition cooperation agreement, establishing a framework for collaboration on competition matters between EU authorities and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

This marks the first agreement focused solely on competition since the UK left the EU, according to a statement by the commission.

It sets out clear principles for cooperation, including notifying each other of major antitrust and merger investigations and coordinating efforts when necessary.

The agreement also reinforces the duty to protect confidential information, requiring companies’ consent before sensitive data can be shared between authorities.

- 'British public not really nostalgic for past'

Speaking after signing the agreement in Brussels, UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle described the deal as “a real vindication of the reset and the relationships that have emerged between the EU and the UK” since Labour came to power.

He said it marked an alignment on strategies regarding issues such as mergers and acquisitions, resulting from frequent conversations between the two sides.

The European Commission executive vice-president for clean, just, and competitive transition, Teresa Ribera, said it was “a privilege” to sign the deal, which she said was “reinforcing the current good cooperation” with the UK.

Kyle added that the public supported the pragmatism, now producing closer ties with Europe, which could drive economic growth.

“The public did vote for a government that had a reset with the EU as its core foreign policy in the election. So, I think, the public have always been looking forward and they’re not really nostalgic for the past,” he told reporters.

He also said that he was in Brussels “not to demand a slice of the action, but to listen,” and highlighted the UK-EU cooperation on Airbus.

He added that the trade and cooperation agreement secured by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson “was not comprehensive enough or ambitious enough,” and needed improvement.

The Competition Cooperation Agreement acts as a “supplementing agreement” to the broader EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which already provides a general framework for competition cooperation while allowing for separate dedicated agreements.

The agreement will enter into force once both sides complete their ratification procedures.

The EU already has similar cooperation agreements with other major economies, including the US (1991), Canada (1999), Japan (2003), South Korea (2009), and Switzerland (2013), outlining how competition authorities can work together across borders.