Brexit Sunset Clause Risks Uncertainty for UK Competition Law

This blog post draws on the presentation given by Professor Catherine Barnard (University of Cambridge) at the ESRC ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, ‘UK Regulation after Brexit Revisited’ event held at the British Academy in London on 27^th October 2022.

(by Andreas Stephan) The UK’s new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, promised to put EU laws through the ‘shredder’, as part of the leadership contest campaign video he released in August when running against his predecessor, Liz Truss. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and reform) Bill (REUL) promises to impose a sunset clause on 2,400 or so pieces of retained EU law, which will cause them to cease applying in the UK unless ministers actively act to keep them. This includes all secondary law (regulations and directives) and related case law of the European Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which plays an important role informing UK Competition Law (at least to the extent that it relates to EU case law delivered until 31 December 2020). This blog explains why the law could create significant uncertainty for the enforcement of UK competition law and what might be done about it.

Should competition law be suspended to help deal with the COVID-19 crisis?

(By Peter Ormosi and Andreas Stephan) When the escalation in Covid-19 sparked panic buying and shortages of key products, UK supermarkets asked the government to consider suspending competition law, to allow them to co-ordinate supplies and reduce shortages. On 25 March 2020, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a document stating that,

Throughout the UK, business are… providing essential goods and services to consumers, to ensure key workers can carry out their important tasks and in getting the country through this crisis. The CMA understands that this may involve coordination between competing businesses. It wants to provide reassurance that, provided that any such coordination is undertaken solely to address concerns arising from the current crisis and does not go further or last longer than is necessary, the CMA will not take action against it. (paras 1.4 and 1.5)

This blog piece examines the consequences of providing this reassurance and asks whether it is a good idea.

Is Furman right to propose ex ante platform regulation as the best way to address competition concerns in the digital economy?

(by Elias Deutscher) Last month, the Digital Competition Expert Panel, chaired by Professor Jason Furman, published its report ‘Unlocking digital competition’ (the ‘Furman report’). The report had been jointly commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Business Secretary due to concerns about prevailing high levels in industry concentration, the accumulation of data in the hands of a handful of players and the rise of a few vertically integrated super-platforms. The same concerns have fuelled a European-wide policy debate about the challenges of competition law enforcement in the digital economy (e.g. by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the European Commission).

The Furman report singles out the strategic importance of data and the gatekeeper function of intermediary platforms as central features of digital competition and the most important challenges for competition policy. These features make digital markets more prone to tipping in favour of a few powerful incumbents. Amongst other recommendations, the report proposes to address these concerns through the creation of a specific ex ante regulatory regime for digital platforms. While it outlines some of the basic features of the proposed new regulation, the report omits to clearly set out the underlying rationale and implications of such a regime. It also gives little guidance on its exact scope and implementation. Most importantly, it remains unclear whether the proposed framework will apply only to large, dominant firms, or also to smaller, non-dominant platforms.

Why the CMA is wrong in its proposals for reform and what should be done instead

(by Bruce Lyons) The Chairman of the CMA, Lord Tyrie, has written a 44-page letter (including annex) to the Secretary of State for Business, Greg Clark, setting out a long list of legislative proposals.[1] Two motivations are given: “First, the growth of new and rapidly-emerging forms of consumer detriment, caused in part by the increasing digitalisation of the economy, requires more rapid intervention, and probably new types of intervention… Second, there are increasing signs that the public doubt whether markets work for their benefit.” I agree with the spirit of these points and that they require action. However, I disagree with some of the CMA’s key proposals. Lord Tyrie appears particularly frustrated with the lengthy appeals system which limits his ability to act firmly and swiftly. Unfortunately, the overall package of proposals would reverse hard-won progress in competition policy over the last 20 years and lead to a paternalistic, arbitrary and unrestrained Consumer Interest Authority. In this blog, I briefly explain some of my concerns. I then set out two alternative proposals that would more directly and appropriately address public concerns over unfair pricing and result in better decisions without prolonged appeals.

The deterrent effect of competition authorities’ work

(by Mike Walker^) In his post last month, Steve Davies bemoaned the lack of evidence on the magnitude of harm deterred by the activities of the Competition Agencies. He presented some estimates from research in CCP on cartel deterrence, concluding most strikingly: “On the most conservative of our estimates, more than half of all potential cartel harm never occurs, because it is deterred. This is very much a lower bound, and the proportion could be as high as 90%.”