The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has clarified the process for parties to raise procedural issues in its Competition Act, market, merger, digital market competition regime, and direct consumer enforcement cases.
The CMA's Procedural Officer and Procedural Complaints Adjudicator offer a way to address procedural issues that parties have not been able to resolve with the CMA Group or staff responsible for an investigation. These roles are independent of the relevant CMA investigations, case teams, and decision-makers, aiming to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.
In Competition Act investigations, the Procedural Officer determines significant procedural complaints related to deadlines for information requests, confidentiality redactions, document disclosure, and oral hearing issues. Applications to the Procedural Officer can be made after a party has been unable to resolve the issue with the Senior Responsible Officer of the investigation, and must be submitted within five working days of notification of the SRO's decision.
The Procedural Officer aims to issue decisions within 10 working days from receiving an application, with a maximum of 20 working days, extendable by another 20 for special reasons. These decisions are binding on the CMA case team and will typically be published on the CMA's webpages, subject to redaction of confidential information.
For merger and market cases, the Procedural Officer handles disputes concerning the confidentiality of information the CMA intends to publish in Phase 1 merger decisions, or in decisions, reports, or other documents published during market studies and Phase 2 merger or market investigations.