Principals Martin Wickens and Waldemar Schuppli co-authored a paper analyzing the patterns that emerge from the case practice of the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s markets regime since its inception. The article examines recurring causes of harm to competition, how these dynamics affect consumers, and the CMA’s choice of remedies.

Introduction and Summary:

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) [1] has a broad review function commonly referred to as the markets regime which includes the powers to undertake market studies and market investigations. The CMA has had these powers since 2002 [2], during which time it has completed 14 standalone market studies and 24 market investigations. The UK was an early adopter of a markets regime, and similar tools have since been introduced in a number of jurisdictions, including Denmark, Norway and Sweden [3].

This article reviews the CMA’s market regime and considers the patterns that emerge from its case practice. In summary, we find that:

  • The CMA most often identifies harm caused by demand-side frictions and market structure issues, including information asymmetries, switching costs, barriers to entry and expansion and high concentration.
  • Harm to consumers most commonly manifests through high prices, low quality and lack of innovation. Less frequently, the harm manifests in distributional impacts on vulnerable consumers or in specific local areas.
  • Information remedies, regulatory recommendations and behavioural remedies have been the most commonly used remedies. Disclosure requirements are often supported by conduct obligations or regulator involvement. More interventionist remedies such as price caps or structural divestitures are rare but do happen in a few instances.

Read the full article here.

The views and opinions expressed in this response are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Econic Partners or its clients.

[1]   Throughout this article references to the CMA include its predecessor bodies the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission.

[2]   Markets regime Guidance [CMA3], CMA, 3 February 2026 (“Markets regime guidance”), paragraph 2.1.

[3]   See legislative announcement and background notes online here, here and here.