Since the Act came into force, implementing it has been Competition Policy Division's main priority. The OFT encourages complaints and discourages businesses from unnecessarily notifying the OFT of agreements under the Competition Act. During the year, the OFT provided informal advice in around 50 cases. The OFT received complaints at a rate over twice that under the previous competition regime, representing an annual rate of over 2,000 complaints. There were early indications of the deterrent effect of the Act.
Evidence also suggests that a number of suspected cartels ceased when the new law took effect.
There were four cases where a leniency application from a company was agreed for a cartel member under the OFT's leniency policy. During the period from 1 March, there were nearly 40 cases where there were reasonable grounds for suspecting an infringement of one or both of the two prohibitions in the Act. In these cases, over 300 written notices were issued requiring the production of specified documents and information. The on-site investigation powers were used in two of them. At the end of the year, over 20 of these cases were still under investigation.