The economics of UK merger control: retrospect and prospect

Post-Brexit, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will take on sole responsibility for enforcing all competition law in the UK. How can the CMA build the capacity and resources to handle that responsibility? Ben Forbes and Mat Hughes discuss potential options in the opening chapter of Global Legal Group’s Merger Control 2017.

At a glance

• UK merger control has already undergone material fine-tuning in recent years.
• The CMA now estimates that Brexit could increase its annual caseload by 30–50 “Phase 1” cases and six “Phase 2” cases—a steep increase.
• It will be challenging to reduce that workload without compromising the efficacy or efficiency of the merger control process.
• Still, there are several options for reform that the government could consider.