UK market watchdogs to merge in a major overhaul
15 Oct 2010
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Competition Commission (CC) in UK will be merged under new plans by the coalition government is a bid to slash cut costs. The move, announced by the UK Cabinet Office yesterday, is designed to cut costs and comes ahead of OCnservative Prime Minister George Osborne's spending review next Wednesday.
A new body would be formed for the investigation of company mergers and unfair markets.
According to ministers, there was overlapping of operations of both entities and a merger would bring down costs.
The move comes as a part of an initiative that aims to shake up the agency sector that was established under the previous Labour government.
The cabinet office minister, Francis Maude has details of which of the 700 quangos (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) would come under the axe.
A total of 192 agencies have been scrapped and their operations either transferred to existing bodies or cut altogether.
Organisations to be disbanded include the Farm Animal Welfare Council, which will be reconstituted as a committee of experts, the Ministry of Justice's Administrative Justice and Tribunal Council, which will totally abolished and Disability Employment Advisory Committee.
With the merger of the two watchdogs, the UK competition regulatory system would align with many other western countries that have a single-body model.
According to Matthew Fell, Confederation of British Industry's director of competitive markets, "A robust competition regime is vital for driving innovation and growth… The planned merger would improve the efficiency of the competition regime by cutting duplication. It would also benefit businesses by speeding up merger reviews and market investigations, reducing the time firms are left in limbo."
Big companies in Britain have been pushing for faster anti-trust decisions and less protracted investigations. Analysts say consumer groups, would have reasons to worry that the shake-up could harm consumer protection.
Under chief executive John Fingleton, the OFT carried out a several wide-ranging market probes into big industries including banks, supermarkets and bus operators, however, businesses have complained that the investigations took too long typically a year at the OFT followed by a further two years at the Competition Commission.
The OFT's image took a beating in May when the trial of four senior British Airways executives on price-fixing allegations collapsed with the belated discovery of key e-mail documents.
On Thursday, the OFT concluded a long-running investigation into the pub industry at the same time that the Competition Commission published its final decision that banned the sale of payment protection insurance at the same time that borrowers take out loans.
The announcement has been welcomed by the heads of both The OFT and the Commitition Commission. The OFT has a 600 strong wokforce
The OFT has a 600-strong workforce while the Competition Commission has around 130.
According to Fingleton, with the right design, a single competition and markets authority could deliver better, faster results for consumers and the economy, and greater consistency for business.
