The UK competition watchdog is looking for ways it can approve more business deals under review as pressure mounts from the UK government’s ambitions to promote economic growth.

To fall in line with these goals, the Competition and Markets Authority is delivering a set of reforms that will address the pace, predictability, proportionality, and process it undertakes in its reviews of business deals.

“To be successful, they rely not only on the CMA’s commitment to change, but also the willingness of businesses and advisors to engage constructively and co-operatively with what we are proposing,” Sarah Cardell of the CMA said in a blog post.

Pace 

The CMA aims to improve the pace of its investigations and decision making, the speed of which it says is vital to reduce business costs and uncertainty.

By June 2025, the CMA aims to have established a new routine that would mean that pre-notification phase of their remit to be completed within 40 days. This is the investigation phase prior to a company being notified they are due to an investigation.

Further, the CMA aims to reduce their current target average for a Phase 1 case from 35 to 25 working days.

Predictability 

The CMA intends to clarify their remit so businesses can better predict if any of their dealings or mergers may attract the CMA’s scrutiny.

Relevant tests the CMA applies to determine if they will investigate a deal, including the material influence of the deal and its share of supply, will still stand, but how the CMA interprets and applies these tests will be updated.

Proportionality 

Next month, the CMA will launch a review of its approach to remedies for business deals, in an effort to offer more effective remedies to business deals it has competition concerns over, rather than prohibit them.

It also aims to sharpen the competition watchdog’s focus on UK impact, looking to more clearly distinguish between deals with a direct UK impact and those that have a more international scope or can be watched more closely by other authorities.

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Process

In an effort to improve its fairness and consistent treatment across its investigations, the CMA will publish a Mergers Charter to lay out its new commitments and ensure the success of its new approach.

The Charter is set to be underpinned by a number of actions to create more direct engagement for investigations and beyond, a targeted outreach programme, and more meetings in the early phases of the review process.

“We are already working at pace to bring about a step change in the operation of the mergers regime over the coming months,” Cardell said.

“But we will not stop there. I am committed to applying the 4Ps framework across all areas of the CMA’s work to deliver robust, independent competition and consumer protection regimes that have the confidence of businesses and investors, and help to support the government’s growth mission.”