Clifford Chance

Videos: UK competition reform - the key changes and their impact on businesses

16 March 2012

The UK government announced major reforms of the UK competition regime on 15 March 2012. In the following three videos, partners from Clifford Chance's London Antitrust Practice explain and comment on the changes and their impact on businesses in three key areas.

 

Reform of the UK merger control regime - Alastair Mordaunt, a former director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading, discusses the key changes to the merger control regime, and how they will impact on filing decisions, clearance timetables, filing fees and the process for offering remedies to secure clearance.  He also highlights a number of potential concerns with the government's plans. View the video

Changes to the civil and criminal competition enforcement regimes - Luke Tolaini discusses the likely impact of the removal of the dishonesty criterion from the criminal cartel offence and the key changes to enforcement regime for breaches of the civil antitrust prohibitions, including the government's reasons for choosing not to implement a prosecutorial model in this area. View the video

Creation of a new, powerful regulator - Jenine Hulsmann explains the aims behind the merger of the two existing competition authorities and the resulting risks for businesses in the UK, the responsibilities of the new regulator and the institutional checks and balances that will be put in place to promote objective and impartial decision making. View the video

For more information

For more detail of the reforms, which are likely to be implemented in 2014, please see our client briefing, UK competition reform: enhanced cartel powers for new regulator