Britain's CMA says Big Tech regulation to focus on UK impact, will issue 'road map' guidance

LONDON : Britain's antitrust regulator will focus on interventions in digital markets which have a "clear and direct" impact on UK consumers and businesses, and will give a road map to the Big Tech companies targeted, its CEO Sarah Cardell said on Monday.

The British government has set a new strategic steer for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after saying last year the regulator was not doing enough to promote economic growth.

It installed former Amazon UK head Doug Gurr as its interim chair in January, a move that underlined the pro-business approach it wanted.

Cardell said that while the CMA's commitment to promoting competition was critical, it also had to change how it went about its work to boost business and investor confidence.

She said the CMA would prioritise interventions which had a "clear and direct impact for UK consumers and businesses", and it would consider whether it was best placed to act.

"We will consider the interplay with other regulators domestically and internationally," she said at the techUK Policy Conference.

She said the regulator's new four Ps framework - pace, predictability, proportionality and process - would apply to its oversight of Big Tech companies as well as merger control.

The CMA in January gained new powers to investigate tech companies, with at least 1 billion pounds ($1.29 billion) of turnover in Britain or 25 billion pounds globally, which it designates as having strategic market status.

In practice this applies to a handful of firms, such as U.S. tech giants Google-owner Alphabet and Apple, which are subject to its first investigations.

Cardell said there would be a new step – a "roadmap" for possible future interventions if the firm were to be designated.

It would provide clarity on which issues were likely to be prioritised for earlier action, which would be deprioritised, and which remained subject to consideration, she said.

Roadmaps for its current search and mobile investigations would be published in June and July, respectively she said.

Cardell said the changes were part of a "more nuanced approach".

"I think it's one that creates a real opportunity for the UK," she said.

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