Digital Markets Unit
The Digital Markets Unit promotes competition and innovation within digital markets.
The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) Digital Markets Unit (DMU) has been established to oversee a new regulatory regime for the most powerful digital firms, promoting greater competition and innovation in these markets and protecting consumers and businesses from unfair practices.
About the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
Respond to our consultation: Consultation on new digital markets competition guidance
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act will grant the CMA with powers to enforce the new digital markets competition regime.
The regime will apply only to those firms who are designated as having strategic market status (SMS). Those firms will have substantial and entrenched market power and a position of strategic significance in at least 1 digital activity linked to the UK. The threshold for SMS will include having a global turnover exceeding £25 billion, or a UK turnover exceeding £1 billion.
Designations will be reviewed a minimum of every 5 years.
The regime will have 3 pillars:
- conduct requirements that set out how firms with SMS are expected to behave in relation to the relevant activity
- pro-competition interventions to address adverse effects on competition
- new merger reporting requirements, so that SMS firms will have to report mergers with a value of at least £25m, and UK connection, to the CMA
The Act requires the CMA to produce and consult on external guidance on how it will exercise its digital markets competition functions. The main components of the regime include the CMA’s approach to the designation of firms with strategic market status, imposing conduct requirements and pro-competition interventions and the CMA’s approach to its investigatory powers, monitoring and enforcement, imposing penalties and wider administrative matters.
We are also consulting on separate guidance on merger reporting requirements for SMS firms.
In addition to undertaking a public consultation on the draft guidance, during the period between Royal Assent and commencement of the new digital markets competition regime, the CMA will:
- continue to carry out preparatory work to maximise operational readiness of the DMU in time for the commencement of the new regime in autumn 2024
- continue to use the full complement of its existing powers, where appropriate, to investigate harm to competition (and consumers) in digital markets
- continue to develop our understanding of key markets and issues, in preparation for launching the first SMS investigations after commencement of our new responsibilities. This will include engagement with stakeholders across industry, academia, other regulators and government
- engage with a wide range of stakeholders and market participants. This will include continuing to work closely with other regulators, both domestically through the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum, and internationally, to strengthen cooperation, share learning, and align on outcomes, where possible and appropriate
Request a DMU speaker for your event
Requests for DMU speakers or panellists at events should be submitted using our speaker request form.
Please fill in the form accurately and include as much detail as possible. Complete the form as far in advance as possible ahead of the event.
We can also be contacted at cmaspeakerrequest@cma.gov.uk.
Media enquiries
Any media enquiries should be directed to: press@cma.gov.uk.
Digital Markets competition regime
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Updates to this page
Last updated 18 June 2024 + show all updates
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Updated with information about the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
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Government has now published its consultation on proposals for the new pro-competition regime.
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First published.