The Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) is launching a review of a number
of existing market remedies to determine whether
they are still required, in a bid to
ease the burden on thousands of businesses. The
remedies under review cover several sectors including
financial services, travel and energy.
Market remedies are designed to fix competition problems
identified during market investigations. They play an important
role but businesses need to dedicate money and resources to
comply with them, so it is important remedies remain fit for
purpose.
The CMA excluded remedies from the review that are
clearly continuing to deliver impact,
including measures aimed at making sure families have all the
information they need when seeking funeral
services and reforms to help households
and small businesses on expensive energy tariffs get better
deals.
However,
the CMA has identified 33 market
remedies (60% of all market remedies in
place) which may no longer be needed to deal with
problems they were designed to fix. They could, for
example, have
been superseded by new laws and
regulations or technological
advances that have transformed how consumers
buy goods and services.
For example, the CMA is considering whether to remove remedies
relating to the marketing practices of
large travel businesses that were
introduced over a decade ago, at a
time when most travel was booked in-store, which would
reduce compliance costs for these companies. Major retail
banks could also benefit from scrapping rules
around providing payment
transaction histories to customers which they can now
easily access online.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said:
Remedies are vital
for protecting consumers and ensuring fair
competition, but they also place demands on
businesses.
That's why this review will ensure only those
remedies delivering real impact remain in place – in
line with the transformation we have made over the last year
to deliver our work with pace,
predictability, proportionality and enhanced
process.
Removing unnecessary barriers for businesses saves time
and money and ensures the competition regime
contributes to the UK's reputation as a great place to do
business and invest.
A consultation will now take
place until Monday 2 March 2026. For
more information about each remedy under review,
visit the consultation page. The
CMA also recently launched a consultation on
the release 37 mergers
remedies.
