What the Competition and Markets Authority wants to do with its new powers

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has set out the areas it wants to focus on over the next 12 months.

The UK watchdog said its latest annual plan has been drawn up following consultation with more than 70 “diverse” businesses and organisations across the country.

The updated areas of focus for the CMA comes as it takes on new responsibilities under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill which is due to receive Royal Assent next month.

In a statement, the watchdog said the bill will “strengthen the CMA’s ability to foster competition, innovation, and growth in digital markets and to protect consumers from harm”.

Chief executive Sarah Cardell said: “The coming year will be a unique one in the CMA’s history as we reach our ten-year anniversary.

“We expect to take on new powers as part of the DMCC Bill, enabling us to inject much needed competition into digital markets and to protect consumers more effectively than ever before.

“We have been preparing for several years to make sure we can hit the ground running and we are more committed than ever to making a real impact for people, businesses, and the UK economy across all areas of our work.”

In its plan for 2024/25, the CMA said it will focus on:

• Acting in areas of essential spending and where people are under particular financial pressure, such as accommodation, caring for ourselves and others, and travel.
• Broadening our work to protect consumers from harmful practices in online choice architecture and misleading pricing.
• Enabling innovating businesses to access digital markets such as cloud services, e-commerce, and digital advertising.
• Encouraging effective competition and consumer protection in emergent markets, including the development and deployment of AI foundation models.
• Acting in existing and emergent markets for sustainable products and services, including through broadening our green claims work, encouraging competitive markets for climate technology, and implementing our Green Agreements Guidance.
• Identifying and acting in areas where we can influence the pro-competitive development of markets and have the most positive impact on innovation, growth and productivity, and promoting resilience through competition.

Chairman Marcus Bokkerink said: “As we move into our 10th year, our determination to deliver positive outcomes for people, businesses, and the economy is stronger than ever.

“This is clear in our annual plan, which sees us continue to act in areas that really matter to people and businesses – from essentials like housing, groceries and road fuels, to rapidly changing technology-driven markets like AI and cloud services.

“Getting out and speaking with people and businesses about what’s affecting them in the here and now, and the opportunities they see in the future, has been a core input to the CMA’s strategy.

“That’s why we’ve been engaging with a broad range of stakeholders across the UK as part of the annual plan consultation and during our day-to-day operations. The ideas and feedback we get from the people and businesses we serve is incredibly valuable.”