25 November 2020

Beyond Brexit transition: the divergence of UK and EU competition law?

The end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 is likely to be a watershed in UK competition law.  There will be some immediate changes including:

• UK competition law becoming  untethered from the EU;
• increased enforcement activity by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the mergers field;
• increased CMA-initiated conduct  investigations, especially in the digital space; and
• the CMA having an increased role in international cooperation between competition agencies around the world.

Over time, a degree of divergence between UK and EU competition law is also likely.

Other initiatives such as the UK Government's recently announced initiative to set up a Digital Markets Unit "to oversee a pro-competition regime for platforms including those funded by digital advertising, such as Google and Facebook" following the Furman report on Unlocking Digital Competition and a CMA market study, as well as the current Penrose review of UK competition law, may result in further changes to UK competition law.

For more information see Beyond Brexit transition - the CMA's role post-Brexit