The UK Competition Authority publishes Draft Guidance on horizontal agreements and Draft Sustainability Guidance to signal greater openness towards collaborative efforts to fight climate change

On 25 January 2023, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) opened a consultation on its Draft Guidance on Horizontal Agreements, which is intended to set out the framework for the application of the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 - the UK equivalent of Article 101 TFEU - to horizontal agreements. The Draft also provides guidance on the application of the Research and Development Block Exemption Order 2022 and the Specialisation Agreements Block Exemption Order 2022, which came into force on 1 January 2023. This was followed on 28 February 2023 by the CMA opening a second and much-anticipated consultation on its Draft Sustainability Guidance, which is intended to explain how the CMA will apply the Chapter I prohibition to environmental sustainability