Two Into One Won’t Go

The Government response to consultation on competition reform (“Growth, Competition and the Competition Regime”) suffers from one “hidden” major flaw, which may be fatal to its objectives. The flaw is the lack of any proper accountability within the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in respect of decision making (findings and remedial action) in market inquiries and mergers. It is “hidden” because, unlike other areas such as the removal of dishonesty from the cartel offence, it is not immediately apparent to non specialised readers of the consultation document.