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ARTICLE · 05 FEBRUARY 2025

A Decade Of Enhanced Concurrent Competition Enforcement: Room For Improvement?

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In December 2024, the CMA published the findings of its review of the effectiveness of the UK's competition concurrency arrangements (the Report).

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Emma Radcliffe
Emma Radcliffe
Megan Humphreys
Megan Humphreys
Greg Dowell
Greg Dowell

In December 2024, the CMA published the findings of its review of the effectiveness of the UK's competition concurrency arrangements (the Report). Under these arrangements, the CMA and the UK's sector regulators share certain competition enforcement powers, which are aimed at promoting competition in the regulated sectors. In this article, we explore the key takeaways and recommendations from the Report, and what they mean for the future.

Background

The UK's concurrency arrangements allow the CMA and the sector regulators1 to use their competition powers in the regulated sectors on a shared basis. Within their respective sectors, the regulators have a duty to promote competition, and the power to: (i) enforce the provisions of the Competition Act 1998 (CA98) relating to anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominance; (ii) conduct market studies under the Enterprise Act 2002 (EA02); and (iii) make market investigation references (MIRs) to the CMA. The CMA

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