Competition and Markets Authority

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Competition and Markets Authority
Welsh: Cystadleuaeth a Marchnadoedd Awdurdod
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Authority overview
Formed 1 October 2013
Type Non-ministerial government department
Jurisdiction United Kingdom
Headquarters Victoria House, 37 Southampton Row, London, WC1B 4AD
Authority executives
Parent department Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Website www.gov.uk/cma

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-competitive activities. The CMA launched in shadow form on October 1, 2013 and began operating fully on April 1, 2014, when it assumed many of the functions of the previously existing Competition Commission and Office of Fair Trading, which were abolished.

Formation

On March 15, 2012, the UK Government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced proposals for strengthening competition in the UK by merging the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission to create a new single Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).[1] The formation of the CMA was enacted in Part 3 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013,[2] which received royal assent on April 25, 2013.

In July 2012, Lord Currie was appointed Chairman designate of the CMA and in January 2013 Alex Chisholm was appointed Chief Executive designate.[3] The term 'designate' was dropped when the CMA was launched on October 1, 2013.

On July 15, 2013, BIS announced the first stage of an open public consultation period and published a summary, setting out the background to the consultation and inviting views on the draft guidance for the CMA.[4] The first stage of the consultation ended on September 6, 2013. On September 17th, BIS announced the second stage of the consultation, which closed on November 7, 2013.[5]

During 2013 and 2014, the CMA announced several waves of appointments at director level, reporting to members of the senior executive team:[6]

On March 28, 2014, the CMA published the Rules of Procedure for CMA merger, market and special reference groups[7] following a consultation which ran from February 21st to March 18th.

Responsibilities

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In situations where competition could be unfair or consumer choice may be affected, the CMA is responsible for:[8]

  • investigating mergers
  • conducting market studies
  • investigating possible breaches of prohibitions against anti-competitive agreements under the Competition Act 1998
  • bringing criminal proceedings against individuals who commit cartels offences
  • enforcing consumer protection legislation, particularly the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Directive and Regulations
  • encouraging regulators to use their competition powers
  • considering regulatory references and appeals

CMA Board and Senior Executive team

  • Lord Currie, Chair[9]
  • Alex Chisholm, Chief Executive[10]
  • Dr Michael Grenfell, Executive Director, Enforcement[11]
  • Dr. Andrea Coscelli, Executive Director, Markets and Mergers[12]
  • Erik Wilson, Executive Director, Corporate Services[13]
  • Annetje Ottow, Non-Executive Director[14]
  • William Kovacic, Non-Executive Director[15]
  • Philip Lowe, Non-Executive Director[16]
  • Alan Giles, Non-Executive Director[17]
  • Roger Witcomb, Non-Executive Director, Panel Chair[18]
  • Jill May, Non-Executive Director, Panel Member[19]
  • Dr. Mike Walker, Chief Economic Adviser
  • Sarah Cardell, General Counsel

Controversy

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The UK Competition Commission ruled several times against MyFerryLink so that it could no longer operate ferry services from Dover despite French competition authority authorizing such cross channel activity.[20] The French government blamed the decision to ban one out of three ferry operators on fair trade reasons.[21] Appeal court broke these rulings[22] because MyFerryLink was not a merger between bankrupted SeaFrance and Eurotunnel.[23] MyFerryLink called attention to a potential conflict of interest, pointing out that the Ex accountant of DFDS (competitor and plaintiff) was now member of UK Competition Commission.[24] Eurotunnel, owner of the boats rented to MyFerryLink, was fed up with the fight from UK Competition Commission and decided to sell two new boats to the DFDS competitor.[25] As a result of this act, the port of Calais was blocked by workers, boats were occupied, and the Channel tunnel attacked, resulting in cross channel disruption and huge traffic jam in UK and France.[26]

See also

Notes

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  6. Appointments at Diirector level:
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  20. L'autorité de la concurrence autorise Eurotunnel à racheter la flotte de Sea France
  21. French Ministry of Transport blame CMA decision
  22. Travel Weekly 26 May 2015 Appeal bid against My Ferry Link
  23. Judge decision in Scop SeaFrance against CMA
  24. Le Figaro 28/06/2014 MyFerryLink interdit de séjour en Angleterre
  25. MyFerryLink : Eurotunnel cède deux bateaux au Danois DFDS
  26. Calais strike disrupts cross-Channel travel for third day

External links

  • Official website
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