皇冠体育app

Consumers benefit when competition in markets leads to more choice, lower prices, or better and more innovative products and services. 皇冠体育app CMA has a key role in helping consumers and benefiting the wider economy. Building on the CMA鈥檚 achievements to date, during this Parliament, the government looks to the CMA to play a key role in the Industrial Strategy, by championing consumers, confronting the challenges of new digital services, and taking a bold approach in its enforcement and markets activity and public profile.

皇冠体育app government acknowledges that, whilst the CMA has a relatively robust range of powers, these will require reform in response to new challenges, including the growing digital economy and the need to ensure public confidence in markets. 皇冠体育app government will consult on reforms, including those proposed by the CMA, shortly.

皇冠体育app CMA will be expected to have regard to the new steer during its activities but retains full independence in how it approaches its work, its selection of cases and the tools it uses to tackle them.

皇冠体育app CMA鈥檚 key role in the Industrial Strategy鈥檚 aims

皇冠体育app UK鈥檚 Industrial Strategy aims to boost the earning power of people, places and businesses across the UK 鈥� particularly by improving productivity. Strong competition drives productivity and growth, so the CMA has an important role to play in supporting the Industrial Strategy鈥檚 aims. 皇冠体育app CMA should:

• take timely action to improve competition in sectors which have a significant impact on productivity, including in local or regional markets across the UK
• promote the Industrial Strategy by making recommendations that help to improve productivity where appropriate
• work to minimise barriers to new businesses successfully entering markets
• report publicly on competition issues affecting productivity, including steps the CMA is taking to improve competition in these areas, and highlighting issues that require government intervention

Champion consumers

Consumer harm can be substantial when markets do not work well, with people in a vulnerable situation in particular at risk of losing out. 皇冠体育app CMA should:

• focus its activities on businesses and markets where the potential for harm is clear
• tackle market failures, and take a cross-disciplinary approach including thinking from behavioural economics and data science
• lead work with sector regulators to ensure the overall competition regime is co-ordinated and that consumers are protected from illegal and anti- competitive practices
• make markets work well for vulnerable consumers

Make the most of the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy

皇冠体育app government wants to embrace the opportunities that the digital economy brings for UK consumers and business, as set out in the Digital Charter. For these markets to operate in the interests of consumers and provide opportunities for new businesses, new approaches may be needed. 皇冠体育app government will ensure that CMA鈥檚 powers can provide it with the flexibility to adapt to these challenges, providing the scope for the CMA to pioneer innovative approaches to finding and solving competition and consumer problems. 皇冠体育app CMA should:

• anticipate and make the most of the competition challenges of new and emerging markets, seeking high-impact outcomes
• help consumers get the most from the digital economy, through building consumer trust in these markets and enforcing the law to protect consumers
• engage and lead the UK and international debate on competition and consumer policy in the digital economy

Enforcement

皇冠体育app government urges the CMA to take action to tackle anti-competitive behaviour and unfair trading, now and after the UK leaves the European Union. 皇冠体育app CMA should:

• be ambitious in the number and type of cases it carries out, and the pace at which it conducts them
• make positive changes across markets where consumers are losing out by using its consumer protection powers to protect consumers from unfair trading practices and contract terms as well as enforcing anti-trust rules robustly, fairly and effectively

Being a strong and independent voice

皇冠体育app CMA is established in statute as an independent decision-making body, separate from ministers. In addition, it has important functions to give information to the public and to make recommendations and give advice to ministers, including on legislation. In line with its powers, the CMA should:

• be a prominent voice for consumers and improve public understanding of competition and consumer law
• make recommendations on regulatory, policy or legislative matters, and their implications for competition and consumers at either national or local level
• raise objections at the highest levels if ministers or civil servants are failing to use competition or protect consumers effectively
• report publicly on the CMA鈥檚 impact on the health of competition across the UK economy and on creating and maintaining markets that work well for all, including the steps the CMA is taking and issues that require government intervention

皇冠体育app government commits to responding publicly to the CMA鈥檚 recommendations within 90 days, clearly indicating the steps that it will take in response to each recommendation or the reasons that it is unable to take forward recommendations. 皇冠体育appre will be a presumption that the government will accept all the CMA鈥檚 published recommendations unless there are strong policy reasons not to do so.