We face competition in all walks of life. Whether it is competing with someone for a promotion, challenging the other team on the sports field or even having a love rival as you try to convince someone to go out with you, there are going to be winners and losers. The same exists in the world of business, and whilst the likes of sports competitions have rules applied by referees, in the business world it is the rules set within commercial law which apply.
One of the main reasons that commercial law has its guidelines, its rules, and ultimately its legislation, is to try to ensure that every business, whether it be a sole trader, or a large corporation has as much chance of succeeding as any other. Further, commercial lawyers seek to prevent those with ill-intentions from what is effectively cheating.
One area where this is especially true is competition law and specifically anti-competitive actions. These are actions where a business owner or those within a business act in a way that prevents other businesses from having as equal an opportunity to succeed within a marketplace as they have. The main piece of legislation anti-competitive law that can be found in is the 2010 Competition and Consumer Act.
The 2010 Act contains the legal structure for eliminating anti-competitive behaviour, and also the punishments for those who try to carry them out. Within this legal framework, 6 anti-competitive actions are highlighted as being those which are believed to cause reductions, or worse, barriers to market competition.