Here we go! UK competition watchdog to gain 'long overdue' post-Brexit powers
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to receive newly proposed, streamlined and strengthened powers, that will be outlined by the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng next week. The organisation will have the power to fine companies directly for breaches of consumer law without taking them to courts. The new proposals are supposed to drive innovation and growth.
The Financial Times reported that “companies that rip off customers with misleading claims, unfair terms and conditions or hard-to-exit contracts would be liable for fines of up to 10 percent of global turnover,” under the current proposals.
The changes come two years after Lord Andrew Tyrie, former chair of the CMA, insisted that new measures must be introduced to transform
the organisation into a consumer champion.
In response to the new proposals, Mr Tyrie told The Financial Times: “Radical reform of consumer protection in the UK is long overdue.
