The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will bring together the Competition Commission (CC) and the competition and certain consumer functions of the OFT in a single body. The CMA will promote competition, within and outside the UK, for the benefit of consumers.
The CMA was established under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and came into being in October 2013. It takes on its full powers and responsibilities, such as competition law enforcement, market studies and investigations, and merger control, on 1 April 2014. Visit the CMA's pages on GOV UK for more information.
On 1 April 2013, local authority Trading Standards Services took on the lead role in enforcing consumer protection law, including at the national level. The OFT, and from 1 April 2014 the CMA, retains powers to enforce consumer law, with lead responsibility on unfair contract terms, using them to tackle widespread practices and market conditions that make it difficult for consumers to exercise choice or to seek out the best deal - for example, where consumers are prevented from switching suppliers by unfair contracts or where misleading pricing practices are widely used.
Some sectoral regulators share concurrent competition and consumer powers with the OFT, and will continue to share these powers with the CMA. This includes Ofcom, Ofgem, the Office of the Rail Regulator, OFWAT, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Utility Regulator of Northern Ireland (URegNI) and Monitor (competition powers only).
The CMA was established under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and came into being in October 2013. It takes on its full powers and responsibilities, such as competition law enforcement, market studies and investigations, and merger control, on 1 April 2014. Visit the CMA's pages on GOV UK for more information.
On 1 April 2013, local authority Trading Standards Services took on the lead role in enforcing consumer protection law, including at the national level. The OFT, and from 1 April 2014 the CMA, retains powers to enforce consumer law, with lead responsibility on unfair contract terms, using them to tackle widespread practices and market conditions that make it difficult for consumers to exercise choice or to seek out the best deal - for example, where consumers are prevented from switching suppliers by unfair contracts or where misleading pricing practices are widely used.
Some sectoral regulators share concurrent competition and consumer powers with the OFT, and will continue to share these powers with the CMA. This includes Ofcom, Ofgem, the Office of the Rail Regulator, OFWAT, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Utility Regulator of Northern Ireland (URegNI) and Monitor (competition powers only).