What is the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)?

The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) is an independent department of the UK government. Its primary focus is to ensure that competition and markets work in favour of consumers. The CMA’s goals include enforcement, consumer protection and ensuring that all UK business is conducted fairly and legally to the highest standards.

What does the CMA do?

The CMA was brought about through the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act of 2013 and aims to prevent large companies from exploiting consumers with tactics such as inflated pricing.

The CMA works with a variety of organisations in both the UK and abroad, some of which include:

• National Trading Standards
• Citizens Advice
• the International Competition Network (ICN)
• the European Competition Network (ECN)

The UK Competition Network (UKCN) forum acts as an intermediary between the CMA and all the UK sector regulators with competition law powers. The main goal of the UKCN forum is to encourage stronger competition across the economy for the benefit of consumers and to prevent anti-competitive behaviours in regulated industries.