The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a 10 year review of the concurrency arrangements, which set out how the CMA and the eight sector regulators – including Ofwat, Ofgem and Ofcom – work together to enforce competition law and promote competition in the regulated sectors.
In 2014, reforms were introduced to enhance the concurrency arrangements and strengthen cooperation between the CMA and sector regulators on their shared competition powers so that UK consumers can enjoy more competitive outcomes, such as lower prices and more choice in services.
Ten years on, the review is an opportunity to assess the impact of concurrency on the work of the regulators and competition in the UK.
The concurrency arrangements were introduced in their current form by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. In addition to these legislative reforms, a series of changes were made in 2014 to the cooperation arrangements between the CMA and the sector regulators.
The sector regulators with concurrent competition law powers are:
- Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat);
- Civil Aviation Authority (CAA);
- Office of Communications (Ofcom); Financial Conduct Authority (FCA);
- Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (NIAUR);
- Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (Ofgem);
- Payment Systems Regulator (PSR);
- Office of Rail and Road (ORR);
Together the regulated sectors form a major part of the UK economy. For consumers, services such as energy, water and communications are essential and take up a large part of household budgets. Launching the review, the CMA says at a time where many are facing rising living costs, competition is an important tool to help keep prices down and promote innovation and growth.
The CMA is calling for views and feedback on the impact and effectiveness of the concurrency arrangements from as diverse a range of perspectives as possible, including:
- how the arrangements have helped the effectiveness of sector regulators
- the impact of the arrangements on the effectiveness of the UK’s competition regime
- any improvements which could be made to the arrangements.
The concurrent competition powers shared between the sector regulators and the CMA are the powers to enforce the prohibitions in the Competition Act 1998, and the powers to conduct market studies under the Enterprise Act 2002, and if appropriate, make a market investigation references to the CMA.
The CMA expects to report the findings of the review in Spring 2024.
Anyone who wants to participate in the review is invited to submit a response to the CMA’s call for inputs – deadline to respond is 20 October 2023.
Click here to download the CMA’s call for inputs paper
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