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ARTICLE · 23 JULY 2021

UK Competition And Consumer Regimes Set For Shake Up

Shepherd and Wedderburn
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The UK Government has this week announced what would be the biggest shake-up of the competition and consumer protection policy landscape for the last 20 years.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Gordon Downie
Gordon Downie
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The UK Government has this week announced what would be the biggest shake-up of the competition and consumer protection policy landscape for the last 20 years. On 20 July 2021 the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a consultation document setting out its proposals for sweeping reforms of the UK's competition and consumer protection law regimes and inviting responses by 1 October 2021.

BEIS views these two policy regimes as working together to deliver a whole range of economic benefits to the UK (given the focus of a competitive market is the consumer): competition policy is crucial in driving innovation, productivity, and growth, and creating the right conditions for healthy competition between traders in markets; consumer policy is vital in underpinning consumer confidence so they can engage in those markets in an assured manner, knowing that they have a strong set of legal rights that will be respected and enforced. To restore

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