Competition and Markets Authority

The Competition and Markets Authority  is the competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom. It has to strengthen business competition and stop or reduce anti-competitive activities. It started  on 1 October 2013 and started properly on 1 April 2014. It took over from the  Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading, which were closed.

It had  a budget of more than £130 million in 2022-23.

It can stop companies merging or taking over other companies.  A new law in 2023 will give it more powers to set rules for technology companies with particularly large influence over certain sectors like search or social media.  Companies can be fined for breaking their rules.

References

Category:Government agencies of the United Kingdom