On April 24, the UK Government proposed measures to encourage private civil challenges to anticompetitive behaviour to complement the UK’s existing public competition law regime. Comments by interested parties on the proposals are due by July 24, 2012. The Government believes these measures are in the interests of preserving competitive markets; protecting consumers from anticompetitive conduct; and promoting productivity, innovation and economic growth.

We examine the two main Government proposals of adopting a ‘US-style’ opt-out collective actions regime and facilitating access to justice for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).