UK market investigations

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has the power to investigate markets to review how competition is working (or not) in a UK market or broader sector—even where there is no evidence of an infringement of UK competition law. In other words, these market reviews are not normally used by the CMA to deal with allegations that a company has breached competition law (though they may lead to possible breaches being uncovered) but rather to look at broader structural concerns.

This sub-topic contains detail on the processes for market studies and market investigations carried out by the CMA (and sectoral regulators).

Background and legal basis

The UK's market investigation powers originally formed part of monopoly reference provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973. These powers were retained even after the introduction of the Competition Act 1998 on the grounds that they permitted market-wide investigations by the then Competition Commission. However, these powers were ultimately subsumed within the Enterprise Act 2002 with Section 131(1) (as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013) providing the CMA the power (based on a discretion