Competition and Markets Authority

We’ve appointed 3 new Senior Legal Directors, including two external appointees who will be joining the CMA in the coming months. Lourenço Ventura and Emma Cochrane will focus on competition enforcement and consumer enforcement respectively in their new roles. Richard Romney will take up his interim role as Senior Legal Director for mergers, markets and regulatory appeals on a permanent basis. Welcome Lourenço and Emma, and congratulations Richard! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eb9R9Vc9

All roads lead to Rome…where, over the last 2 days, our Chair Marcus Bokkerink and Executive Director of the Digital Markets Unit Will Hayter, met with representatives of the other G7 member states, the European Commission and the OECD - OCDE, at the Joint Competition Authorities and Policymakers’ Summit. At the Summit, Marcus and Will were delighted to discuss recent developments in AI, enforcement activities, and policy and regulatory issues in the digital sector. The Summit's overarching theme was developing a common vision for the future of competition policy in the era of #AI. At the conclusion of the summit, we published a joint G7 Digital Competition Communiqué, reinforcing our shared commitment to enforce competition laws and develop policies as necessary to ensure the principles of fair competition are applied to digital markets. It also emphasises the importance of global alignment in how we approach these issues. The CMA would like to thank the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) for hosting this year. Read more: https://lnkd.in/emwxJR3g #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalMarkets #CompetitionLaw #G7Summit

New discussion paper published: Geographic retail markets We’ve published a new discussion paper from our Microeconomics Unit about using consumer card spending data to define local retail markets. This innovative data approach offers valuable insights for: ➡️ economists and researchers trying to measure local competition ➡️ policymakers looking to understand how major shocks like COVID-19 or the cost of living crisis have impacted travel and spending patterns Read the paper: https://lnkd.in/e8Njqm8W

I was pleased to be invited to The Times Tech Summit to talk on the topic of regulation in the era of AI, alongside Ofcom’s Melanie Dawes.   I touched on: - our new Digital Markets Competition and Consumers (DMCC) powers and how they can unlock growth in UK digital markets - the CMA’s work to help ensure AI delivers real benefits for UK consumers, businesses and our economy Supporting innovation, investment and growth in the UK is central to the CMA’s work. With the passing of the DMCC Act earlier this year, the CMA will have a new bespoke toolkit to unleash competition in digital markets, helping ensure all companies (and their investors) have a fair shot at success in these fast-moving, high-potential parts of our economy.

Our job is to promote competitive markets and tackle unfair behaviour, so that people, businesses and the UK economy can thrive. As part of this work, we send warning and advisory letters to businesses we think may be breaking competition law, and whose practices could be harming consumers. For the first time, we’ve published heat maps illustrating where in the UK we’ve sent these letters. From 2018 to 2023, we sent 557 letters to businesses across the UK, covering many sectors. The maps provide a snapshot of our proactive approach to ensuring businesses across the UK comply with competition law – regardless of size or location – to promote fair market conditions and potentially save consumers money. Look at the maps: https://lnkd.in/e5YCx5pQ Find out how to respond to a letter if you receive one: https://lnkd.in/d2YCJ2cF #CompetitionLaw #ConsumerProtection

Today the CMA has announced a further decision in an AI Foundation Model-related merger investigation – Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic. As I said recently when we announced our clearance decision on Microsoft / Inflection, some of these foundation model partnerships and arrangements are complex and relatively opaque. Reviews like this help us to gain more clarity around whether they could fall under UK merger rules and any subsequent impact they could have on competition, and we hope that this clarity also benefits businesses with an interest in these markets. Our investigation into Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic found that that Amazon’s $4 billion investment into Anthropic allowed it to enter multiple non-exclusive arrangements with Anthropic and secure certain rights in connection with its investment. Having tested these arrangements against the UK merger control jurisdiction thresholds for turnover and share of supply, we have concluded that they are not met. We also considered whether the arrangements allowed Amazon to exercise material influence over Anthropic. Ultimately, given neither of the required turnover or share of supply tests were met, we did not need to reach a conclusion on material influence. As a result, we do not believe that a relevant merger situation has been created and will not refer this for further investigation. Our merger process aims to promote fairness and provide certainty for fair dealing businesses and their investors, through the use of a transparent legal and regulatory framework. A summary of our decision today, and shortly a full decision on this clearance, can be read at the link below. Read the summary of our Amazon / Anthropic decision: https://lnkd.in/e4QbvuKZ Read my reflections on our recent Microsoft / Inflection clearance decision: https://lnkd.in/esmZZfCb

Please check out my short blog below with reflections on the Data Event we hosted last week at the Office for the Internal Market. Many thanks to everyone who participated. Watch this space for further updates.

We’ve fined Tereos for failing to provide relevant information as part of our investigation into T&L Sugars’ deal to buy Tereos’ UK retail sugar business. It’s important that firms respect the UK #merger review process, which includes providing all the information we need to promptly progress our investigation. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/exYg7UfG

We’ve been making progress in our vets investigation, from gathering information from the sector to appointing our vets advisory panel. Our Inquiry group, made up of independent experts and chaired by Martin Coleman, have so far conducted: - 20 site visits across the UK including vet hospitals and referral centres - roundtable discussions with a range of vet professionals and representatives from animal charities - teach-in sessions allowing organisations in the sector to help us fully understand the market We’ve also appointed our veterinary advisory panel, made up of practicing vet nurses and vet surgeons. This gives the Group access to their clinical expertise as the investigation progresses. Read more: https://lnkd.in/em7ueKUh #Vets #VetServices #Pets #VetProfessionals 

Scottish Government Minister for Public Finance, Ivan McKee, met CMA staff at our Edinburgh Office last week as part of our ongoing engagement with governments across the UK, to promote competition and protect consumers. #consumerprotection