EU-UK Competition Cooperation Agreement published on 19 October 2026, entering force on 1 December and formalising CMA-EC joint enforcement coordination

On 19 October 2026, the EU published the EU-UK Competition Cooperation Agreement, a bilateral treaty designed to promote coordination and information-sharing between the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission in competition enforcement. The Agreement is due to enter force on 1 December 2026, shortly before the UK-EU summit in Brussels on 20 November. The Agreement introduces three principal mechanisms. First, competition authorities may agree to coordinate enforcement where they are pursuing the same or related goals, a development with immediate practical relevance given the CMA and the Commission are already cooperating on a suspected anti-competitive conduct investigation in the fragrances sector alongside competition authorities in the US and Switzerland. Second, a negative comity obligation requires each authority to give 'careful consideration' to the other's important interests during all phases of enforcement, though the Agreement does not define 'important interests'. Third, information sharing is permitted where lawful under applicable domestic law, subject to confidentiality and data protection requirements: authorities are not obliged to share information, written consent waivers from parties will often remain necessary in practice, and onward disclosure is controlled. Safeguards include restrictions on how shared information may be used (generally limited to competition enforcement and confined to the subject-matter for which it was originally obtained), specific protections governing sanctions against individuals, and notification and consultation obligations where accidental misuse occurs. The Agreement does not establish unrestricted access to evidence across jurisdictions. The timing, ahead of the November summit, signals that closer regulatory cooperation between the UK and EU may extend beyond competition law.