How the CMA handles information and complaints about businesses
Published 27 November 2014
© Crown copyright 2014
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The CMA welcomes information about practices in the marketplace, but does not respond in detail to individual complaints.
The CMA aims to promote competition for the benefit of consumers generally. However it has no power to act on behalf of individual consumers and businesses, and the responsibilities of its predecessor, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), for considering and acting on complaints have passed to other bodies, in particular Trading Standards services and Citizens Advice. Accordingly, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) does not respond in detail to complaints about businesses or business practices, other than super-complaints from designated consumer bodies.
The CMA is grateful for, and always acknowledges receipt of, information relevant to the exercise of its competition, markets and consumer functions. In particular, a Cartels Hotline is available for provision of information about agreements between businesses about not competing with each other – eg by price-fixing, bid-rigging or market-sharing arrangements. Complaints about businesses receive consideration as information of potential value to work that the CMA is currently doing or may in future undertake. However, no guarantee is offered as to whether and how such complaints may be used.
The role of the CMA is to make significant interventions in markets in cases where it can make a difference for consumers generally. To do so, it aims to focus its resources on a limited number of cases and projects. Specific commitments as to how many cases and projects the CMA will undertake are set out each year in its annual plan.
The CMA is required to make independent decisions as to the work it undertakes, which it does by reference to its published prioritisation principles. In order to protect its ability to act independently, it reserves the right to refuse to undertake any form of investigation at the prompting of an external person or group, other than by way of super-complaint.
For the same reason, and in order to ensure it makes best use of its limited resources, the CMA will normally decline to enter into correspondence about its decisions as to whether to give detailed consideration to individual complaints.
This does not affect the CMA’s commitment to give due consideration to complaints raising issues of administrative fairness or regarding the behaviour of individual members of its staff – see the CMA complaints policy.