On February 24, 2026, the European Commission announced that it signed the EU-UK Competition Cooperation Agreement that enables the European Union and the United Kingdom to closely cooperate on competition matters. According to the Commission, the agreement will enter into force when their respective ratification procedures have been finalized. The Commission emphasized that this is the first agreement between the EU and UK that is fully focused on competition cooperation following the withdrawal of the UK from the Union.
The EU-UK Competition Cooperation Agreement, which will be a “supplementing agreement” to the broader EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, establishes a clear framework that the Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority will use to ensure that their collaboration is smooth and that shared information is protected. The agreement provides, among other things, that the EU and UK will notify one another of significant antitrust and merger investigations and coordinate efforts when necessary. It also establishes duties of confidentiality for the competition authorities, including safeguards to be used to transfer and store information and a mandate requiring authorities to obtain consent from companies that provide confidential information before the information can be shared.
European Commission Press Release