Competition Act 1998: Primary UK legislation governing competition law, prohibiting anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant market position. Essential for ensuring exclusivity provisions don't breach competition regulations.
Enterprise Act 2002: Legislation that provides the framework for merger control and market investigations in the UK, relevant for understanding the broader competition law context of exclusivity agreements.
EU Retained Competition Law: Post-Brexit retained EU law principles that continue to influence UK competition law and may affect how exclusivity agreements are interpreted.
Article 101 TFEU: EU legislation relevant if the exclusivity agreement has any cross-border elements affecting trade between EU member states.
Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977: Key legislation governing the fairness and enforceability of contract terms in English law, particularly regarding limitation of liability clauses.
Consumer Rights Act 2015: Relevant if one party to the exclusivity agreement is a consumer, providing additional protections and requirements for fairness.
Commercial Agents Regulations 1993: Regulations protecting commercial agents, potentially relevant if the exclusivity agreement involves agency relationships.
Trade Secrets Regulations 2018: Legislation protecting confidential business information, relevant for provisions dealing with confidentiality within exclusivity agreements.
Restraint of Trade Doctrine: Common law principle requiring that restrictive covenants must be reasonable in scope, duration, and geographic extent to be enforceable.
Contractual Remedies: Common law principles governing available remedies for breach of contract, including damages, injunctions, and specific performance.
Contra Proferentem Rule: Common law principle of contractual interpretation where ambiguous terms are construed against the party who drafted them.
