Advisory letters issued by the CMA
Updated 15 April 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/competition-law-warning-and-advisory-letters-register/advisory-letters-issued-by-the-cma
This register sets out summary details of advisory letters sent by the CMA.
Each entry for the year in question relates to a particular matter where the CMA has received a complaint or other intelligence about a business that may be breaking competition law. We sometimes send letters to multiple businesses about a single matter.
Individual case pages may record where an advisory letter has been sent in connection with a formal investigation.
At the end of each year we will provide an annual total of advisory letters sent that year. After 5 years, individual register entries will be removed from the register. Annual aggregate figures will remain.
The market sectors are based on those listed in the CMA’s case directory. As these are relatively broadly defined sectors, they may cover a number of different industries.
2023
Total sent in 2023: 14
| Potential issue(s) | Market sector |
|---|---|
| Chapter I prohibition – concern that the retailer may have entered into a price-fixing agreement and/or concerted practice with a competitor, which would see both retailers price goods at the same level (by setting an increased recommended retail price) | Healthcare and medical equipment |
| Chapter I prohibition – concern that retailers might have agreed to share markets | Clothing, footwear and fashion |
| Chapter I prohibition – concern that retailers might have engaged in resale price maintenance/price coordination | Clothing, footwear and fashion |
| Chapter I prohibition – concern that retailers might have engaged in resale price maintenance/price coordination, agreed to share markets and exchanged competitively sensitive information | Clothing, footwear and fashion |
| Chapter I prohibition – concern that the undertaking might have engaged in ‘bid-rigging’, which involves competing businesses which are invited to bid in competitive tenders secretly colluding so that, contrary to appearances, they are not fully competing for the contract | Medical services |
| Chapter I prohibition – sharing of commercially sensitive information, including price information, with one or more competing businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority published a joint open letter to remind airport operators of their responsibilities and obligations under competition law | Transport |
| Chapter I prohibition – Retailers might have invited other retailers to join with them to set minimum price points (price coordination with competitors) | Medical services |
2022
Total sent in 2022: 218
| Potential issue(s) | Market sector |
|---|---|
| Chapter I – supplier seeking to restrict the level of discounts offered by online retailers of its products | Light fittings |
2021
Total sent in 2021: 38
| Potential issue(s) | Market sector |
|---|---|
| Chapter I – agreements or concerted practices among competing businesses relating to price | Car parking |
| Chapter I – agreements or concerted practices among competing businesses relating to markets/customers served | Safety clothing |
| Chapter I – agreements or concerted practices among competing businesses relating to markets/customers served | Cleaning products |
| Chapter I – agreements or concerted practices among competing businesses relating to price | Assistive goods and services |
| Chapter I and Chapter II – agreement or concerted practice restricting choice of supply | Funeral related products |
| Chapter I – disclosure of confidential and commercially sensitive information, including pricing information, with one or more competing businesses | Educational resources |
2020
Total sent in 2020: 14
| Potential issue(s) | Market sector |
|---|---|
| Chapter I – supplier seeking to ensure that online retailers of its products adhere to its Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) or risk being prevented from selling its products | Bathroom supplies |
| Chapter I – supplier seeking to ensure that online retailers of its products adhere to its Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) or risk being prevented from selling its products | Animal food |
| Chapter I – disclosure and/or receipt of confidential and commercially sensitive information, including pricing information, with/from one or more competing businesses | Arts and crafts |
| Chapter I – agreements or concerted practices among competing businesses to coordinate or fix prices | Beauty services |
2019
Total sent in 2019: 2
| Potential issue(s) | Market sector |
|---|---|
| Chapter I - suspected anti-competitive arrangements | Healthcare sector |