UK Competition Watchdog Publishes EU Exit Guidance

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published further guidance to explain how it will conduct its work following the end of the Transition Period for the UK’s exit from the EU.

As of January 1, 2021, the CMA will take on responsibility for merger, cartel, and competition enforcement cases that were previously reserved to the European Commission; typically, those are the larger and more complex cases. 

The CMA stated it has committed the necessary resources to ensure that it has the people, skills, and infrastructure in place to deal with these investigations and has, for merger cases, already been engaged in the “pre-notification” discussions that precede a formal investigation for the past few months.

The UK’s exit from the EU presents both challenges and opportunities for the CMA and for the UK’s competition and consumer protection regimes. The CMA remains committed to making the most of the upcoming opportunities to secure good outcomes for UK consumers, ensuring that its work is directly relevant to people’s everyday life, while playing a bigger role internationally to promote competition and protect consumers.

Read the guidance.