De Minimis
Latin: 'about minimal things'. The principle that the law does not concern itself with trivial matters. In UK competition law it has a specific statutory expression through turnover thresholds below which agreements and conduct enjoy limited immunity from financial penalties.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The clearest statutory illustration of the de minimis principle in UK law is the Competition Act 1998 (Small Agreements and Conduct of Minor Significance) Regulations 2000, made under sections 39 and 40 of the Competition Act 1998. The Regulations set out the category of agreements and conduct which enjoy limited immunity from the imposition of penalties for breach of the Chapter I or the Chapter II prohibitions respectively — the UK's prohibitions on anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position.
The Regulations fix the thresholds by reference to turnover. The category of agreements prescribed for the purposes of section 39(1) of the Act is all agreements between undertakings the combined applicable turnover of which for the business year ending in the calendar year preceding one during which the infringement occurred does not exceed £20 million. A separate, higher threshold applies to unilateral conduct: the applicable turnover of which for the business year ending in the calendar year preceding one during which the infringement occurred does not exceed £50. Falling within these thresholds does not make the underlying conduct lawful, but it exempts the undertaking from financial penalties for the infringement — the practical effect that gives the doctrine its everyday label of a 'de minimis' exception.
Related terms
Official sources
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