ROCC Welcomes the Passing of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act Into Law

On 24 May 2024, the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC Act) passed into law. ROCC is pleased to welcome the Act which gives the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new powers to regulate the behaviour of the big tech firms, like Amazon, that are designated as having “Strategic Market Status”.

The new regime gives the CMA the power to intervene earlier against the anticompetitive behaviour of big tech. Traditional antitrust tools have proved insufficient as they intervene too late and too slowly for fast moving digital markets. The Act achieves this through Conduct Requirements (CRs) and Pro-Competition Interventions (PCIs) that can only be imposed after a formal investigation process. CRs and PCIs are bespoke tools that aim to address the precise behaviours that raise potential competition concerns through firm specific requirements.

ROCC has been at the forefront of advocating for the merits of the DMCC regime and ensuring that the Act, and the necessary powers it introduces to curb the anticompetitive and anti-consumer excesses of big tech firms, were not watered down. This included writing to the British Prime Minister to seek to maintain the appropriate level of review of decisions made under the regime, publishing academic articles to help steer to debate, giving evidence to Parliament’s Public Bill Committee, giving evidence to the House of Lords Digital Select Committee, chairing conferences, and meeting with the CMA to discuss our issues.