CMA COVID-19 taskforce
Published 20 March 2020
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Background
The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) is an unprecedented and rapidly evolving challenge that has prompted many concerns that businesses might exploit the situation to take advantage of people, for example by charging excessive prices or making misleading claims about their products.
Coronavirus, and the measures taken to suppress its impact on public health, are likely to have a substantial impact on competition, with the risk of an increase in consumer detriment.
That is why the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is establishing a dedicated COVID-19 Taskforce (the ‘Taskforce’).
Key areas of focus
The taskforce will:
- Scrutinise market developments to identify harmful sales and pricing practices as they emerge.
- Warn firms suspected of exploiting these exceptional circumstances – and people’s vulnerability – through unjustifiable prices or misleading claims.
- Take enforcement action if there is evidence that firms may have breached competition or consumer protection law and fail to respond to warnings.
- Equip the CMA to advise government on emergency legislation if there are negative impacts for people which cannot be addressed through existing powers.
- Advise government on how to ensure competition law does not stand in the way of legitimate measures that protect public health and support the supply of essential goods and services. It will also advise on further policy and legislative measures to ensure markets function as well as possible in the coming months.
The COVID-19 Taskforce is monitoring market developments to enable us to intervene as quickly as possible, where required. The CMA has a range of options at our disposal, including warnings, enforcement action and seeking emergency powers.
We will do whatever is required to stop a small minority of businesses that may seek to exploit the present situation.
Contacting the Taskforce
The CMA will use any information you provide in facilitating its statutory functions. Initially the information you provide will help us develop our understanding of potential issues arising in connection with the coronavirus outbreak, though it may also be used to help us in considering or taking competition or consumer enforcement action should that be appropriate.
The information you provide will be treated in accordance with the restrictions on disclosure in Part 9 Enterprise Act 2002.
When handling personal data (like your contact details), we follow data protection law as set out in the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018 and other law designed to protect sensitive information. ‘Personal data’ is information which relates to you or someone else from which you can be identified. The CMA will be the data controller for any personal information you provide.
We may use any personal information you provide to facilitate our statutory functions, as set out above. For example, we may contact you again for further information that might help us with our work or, where necessary, we may share information with other law enforcement, consumer or regulatory bodies (nationally and internationally).
For more information about the CMA’s statutory functions, how the CMA processes personal data and your rights relating to that personal data, including your right to complain, please see the CMA personal information charter.