Mergers regime to be streamlined

Britain’s “complicated” regime for reviewing mergers and anti-trust cases is to be streamlined through a single Competition and Markets Authority.

The new body will bring together the Competition Commission and functions of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), business minister Norman Lamb said.

The move follows a consultation in which the current set-up – where cases are often considered by the OFT before being passed to the commission for detailed review – was criticised as being too complicated with too much duplication.

Lamb said: “We want to see a simpler, more streamlined structure so that a single competition authority can provide strong leadership and improve the speed and quality of decisions for business.

“Above all, competitive drives prices down and quality up, which benefits consumers and improves UK productivity and growth.”

The authority, which will be fully operational by April 2014, will have responsibility for merger regulation, market investigations, cartel and anti-trust cases, as well as functions with respect to regulated utilities.

OFT chairman Philip Collins pledged to maintain the regulator’s “high level of activity” over the coming two years.

“In doing so, we will continue to improve the way we work to deliver benefits in the immediate term and to provide a firm foundation for the Competition and Markets Authority to build on,” he added.