Part 3: Enforcement of consumer protection law Chapter 2: Relevant infringements Section 149: The UK connection condition
This section sets out the jurisdictional test which must be met for a commercial practice to fall within scope of the Part 3 enforcement regimes. It limits the extraterritorial reach of the regimes to acts or omissions done or made by a trader who satisfies at least one of conditions set out in subsection (1). These are not mutually exclusive.
	Subsection (1), paragraph (a) applies where the trader has a place of business in the United Kingdom. This means that traders with a place of business in the United Kingdom are in scope of the Part 3 enforcement regimes regardless of whether they have been incorporated in the United Kingdom or overseas.
	Subsection (1), paragraph (b) applies where the trader carries on business in the United Kingdom. This does not require the trader to have a place of business in the United Kingdom and this condition can be satisfied by management activity taking place abroad (Akzo Nobel N.V. v Competition Commission & Ors, [2014] EWCA Civ 482, at paragraphs 30 - 38).
	Subsection (1), paragraph (c) brings in scope commercial practices occurring as part of activities directed to consumers in the United Kingdom by any means.
	To satisfy this condition, the trader’s relevant activities must demonstrate an intention of being directed to consumers in the United Kingdom. This is an objective test: while evidence of "actual intention" may assist in resolving the question it is not a necessary ingredient (see Merck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp & Or's [2017] EWCA Civ 1834 at paragraph 165, Argos Limited v Argos Systems Inc. [2018] EWCA Civ 2211 at paragraph 51 and Bitar v Banque Libano-Francaise [2021] EWHC 2787 (QB) at paragraph 26). The question is whether average consumers in the United Kingdom would consider that the activities are directed at them.
	It follows that the fact that the trader’s goods, services or digital content are accessible by consumers in the United Kingdom (for example, through a website) is insufficient to establish that the trader’s relevant activities are directed to consumers in the United Kingdom (see Merck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp & Or's [2017] EWCA Civ 1834 at para 168, Nifty v Soleymani [2022] EWHC 773 at para 69).
	Whether the trader’s activities are directed to consumers in the United Kingdom by any means is a question of fact requiring evaluation of all the relevant circumstances. These may include (alone or in combination) (see Merck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp & Or's [2017] EWCA Civ 1834 at para 170, Bitar v Banque Libano-Francaise [2021] EWHC 2787 (QB) at para 28):
The nature of the activity,
The nature of the goods, services or digital content,
The relevant contact details – for example, use of a telephone number with an international dialling code,
The relevant domain name (for a website),
The language used,
The currency indicated,
List or map of areas for delivery or provision of the goods, services or digital content, or
Any past transactions with consumers in the United Kingdom.
	The UK connection condition may be met, for example:
by an overseas trader who promotes and sells, via its website, services to consumers in the United Kingdom;
by an overseas platform which promotes, via its website, a third party’s services to UK consumers. For example, an overseas platform whose website promotes holiday clubs and add-on trips to consumers in the United Kingdom, whilst a third party resort operator is responsible for the actual sale and provision of these goods and services to the consumer;
where the consumer is the supplier.
	This section does not require the supply in question to be made by the trader, only that the trader has a place of business in or carries on business in the United Kingdom or that its commercial practice occurs in the carrying on of activities directed to consumers in the United Kingdom. The effect of this section is to enable enforcement using the Part 3 regimes to protect consumers within the United Kingdom no matter where the trader is based, as long as the UK connection condition is met.