Competition Commission

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The Competition Commission is an independent body responsible for investigating mergers, market shares and conditions and the regulation of United Kingdom companies. It is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) under the Department of Trade and Industry.

The Commission replaced the Monopolies and Mergers Commission on April 1 1999. It was created by the Competition Act of 1998. This Act created a competition law structure similar to that detailed in the European Treaty. Such as Chapter 1 which prohibited anti-competitive agreements within a market, for example cartels. And in Chapter 2, the prohibition of abuse of a dominant position within a market.

The Commission has no authority to commence investigations on its own, an inquiry commences following the referral of a particular case to the Commission, most often by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Inquries may also result from referrals from the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (e.g. Morrison bid for Safeway supermarkets) or independent regulators. For mergers the Commission will be asked to investigate if the takeover target has a turnover above a certain threshold or if the resulting company would have 25% or more of a market, i.e. a monopoly position.

Details of the reports by the Commission are available on its website.

These people Chair the inquiries of the Commission & have authority over the Commission Members and Inquiry Staff:

Chairman: Peter Freeman
Deputy Chairperson: Diana Guy, Christopher Clarke

And the Council of the Commission with the Chief Executive, Martin Stanley, reporting to it, has control over the Inquiry staff and Support Functions and administration of the Commission.