July 2021
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
When it happened…
Thursday, 8 July 2021
What delegates came to discuss…
This conference examined the next steps for competition policy in the UK, and the way forward for moves to strengthen regulation - with the aim of ensuring that faster and more predictable decisions are made.
The discussion followed the publication of the independent Penrose Review, Power to the People, which was commissioned by the Government to look at how the UK’s competition regime can be updated following Brexit and in the context of COVID-19.
Sessions looked at the Review’s key findings - as well as issues and next steps for implementing its recommendations, which include:
- strengthening the position of the CMA
- toughening penalties for breaches
- streamlining the case process from CMA probe to Competition Appeal Tribunal
- further proposals aimed at:
- cutting red tape
- increasing competition in regulated sectors
- creating fast track Competition Courts for local and regional cases
- supporting consumers
We were pleased to be able to include keynote sessions with John Penrose MP, the Review’s author and the UK Anti-corruption Champion; Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair, Global Parliamentary Network, World Bank and International Monetary Fund; Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow, Nuffield College, Oxford and former Chief Secretary to the Treasury (2009 - 2010); Dr Michael Grenfell, Executive Director of Enforcement, CMA; and Professor Andreas Stephan, Professor of Competition Law & Head of School, School of Law, University of East Anglia - along with contributions from Citizens Advice; Dechert; Durham Law School; the Information Commissioners Office; Pinsent Masons; Ombudsman Services; Shell Energy; and the University College London Centre for Law, Economics and Society and the Balanced Economy Project.
Saqib Bhatti MP, Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Small and Micro Business, has kindly agreed to chair a session.
The agenda brought out latest thinking on:
- the Penrose Review and its recommendations
- increasing consumer trust and confidence
- strengthening the powers of the CMA, and proposals for reforming the enforcement process
- the impact of the UK leaving the EU on the regulatory landscape
Who attended…
Officials from BEIS; the Competition and Markets Authority; the DCMS; the Department for Transport; the DHSC; the Government Legal Department; HM Treasury; the Information Commissioner's Office; the Intellectual Property Office; the National Audit Office and Ofcom.
Representatives from Airbnb; Amazon; the Balanced Economy Project; BPI; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; BT; BUUK Infrastructure; CityFibre; Drax Power; Fingleton; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; FTI Consulting; Gardiner & Theobald; KPMG; Ombudsman Services; the Payment Systems Regulator; The Ivors Academy; the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Which?.
Press: Satellite Evolution Group and The Water Report.
