The UK government has outlined a strategic framework for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), emphasising economic growth as a national priority. The framework directs the CMA to use the new digital markets competition regime (DMCR) in a flexible and collaborative manner to enhance opportunities within the UK’s digital and broader economy. The CMA is tasked with promoting competition and protecting consumers, aligning its efforts with the government’s growth mission.
In response to extensive consultations with domestic and international businesses and investors, the CMA has introduced a ‘4Ps’ framework—pace, predictability, proportionality, and process. The framework aims to foster growth, investment, and business confidence within the UK’s competition and consumer regimes. The DMCR, designed with best practices for regulating innovation-led markets, incorporates these qualities. It applies only to the largest firms, determined by turnover, market power, and strategic significance, allowing the CMA to address specific issues rather than imposing universal rules.
The CMA’s approach includes deeper collaboration with businesses to inform priority areas and potential interventions in digital markets. It commits to transparency by providing clear direction and scope at the outset of DMCR investigations, supplemented with additional information at key milestones.
CMA emphasises rapid implementation and stakeholder collaboration in digital markets strategy
The CMA acknowledges the rapid pace of digital markets, emphasising the need for swift development and implementation of its work to avoid prolonged uncertainty that could deter investment and innovation. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) enforces statutory time limits, including a nine-month limit for Strategic Market Status (SMS) designations and Pro-Competition Interventions (PCI) investigations, and a six-month limit for Conduct Requirement (CR) breach investigations.
To enhance predictability, the regime sets clear thresholds for firm designation, requiring firms to meet specific turnover and market power criteria. The CMA has published guidance on operating the DMCCA, providing clarity on its approach. It plans to incorporate a ‘roadmap’ into SMS investigations, outlining potential future interventions and seeking stakeholder input.
Proportionality is central to the DMCR, with designations limited to specific digital activities and firms with substantial market power. The CMA uses its Prioritisation Principles to make proportionate decisions, focusing on interventions with clear benefits for UK consumers and businesses.
The CMA’s process emphasises engagement with stakeholders, facilitated by statutory consultation duties. It consults through invitations to comment, roundtables, and bilateral meetings, and seeks participative resolutions where appropriate. The CMA plans to enhance engagement by establishing a regular programme of outreach, involving its Growth and Investment Council, and partnering with trade associations and venture capital firms.
“The CMA’s ambition is an effective and independent consumer protection regime, which safeguards UK consumer interests and gives people the confidence they need that the CMA is standing up for them,” said the CMA’s consumer protection acting executive director Emma Cochrane. “An effective consumer protection regime should also give fair dealing businesses the confidence to grow and invest on a level playing-field, knowing that their competitors cannot gain an unfair advantage by breaking the law.”
The CMA will advance these initiatives in the coming months, aiming to drive positive outcomes for UK businesses and consumers. Upcoming milestones include provisional decisions on SMS investigations into search advertising and mobile ecosystems in mid-2025, with final decisions expected by October 2025.
Read more: CMA sets new course for tech regulation, focused on UK market impact
