The competition framework Part 4: Competition Reform Summary and Background Section 51: Powers of sectoral regulators and Schedule 14: Regulators: use of powers under 1998 Act
373.Section 51 amends the powers of the Secretary of State under section 54 of the CA 1998 to make regulations governing the operation of concurrency.
374.Subsection (2)(a) amends section 54(6) to allow regulations made by the Secretary of State to set out the circumstances in which the CMA may decide that it will undertake a case under the CA 1998 rather than the regulator with concurrent functions. Subsection (3) inserts a subsection (6A) clarifying that such regulations must require the CMA to consult the regulator before taking over a case and to have the consent of the regulator if it wants to take over a case after the regulator has issued a notice stating that it proposes to make a decision as to whether there has been a relevant infringement (in other words, after a draft decision has been issued).
375.Subsection (2)(b) allows regulations made by the Secretary of State to provide for the CMA as well as the Secretary of State to decide questions about which of the competition authorities should undertake a CA 1998 case.
376.Subsection (4) inserts new subsections (6B) and (6C) into section 54. These provide for regulations made by the Secretary of State to include requirements for information sharing arrangements to be put in place between “competent persons”, i.e. the regulators with concurrent CA 1998 powers and the CMA (“competent person” is defined in section 54(7)). The information that may be covered by these arrangements includes information in connection with cases being conducted by them under the CA 1998 and cases which a regulator decides to undertake using powers under the sector-specific legislation, even though it considers that it would also have been open to it to proceed with the case under the CA 1998.
377.Subsection (5) introduces Schedule 14 which amends the sector-specific legislation to clarify the relationship between the powers of the regulators under that legislation and their powers under the CA 1998. Schedule 14 therefore amends the following legislation:
378.The amendments made by Schedule 14 re-frame the existing duties on the sector regulators to consider using their powers under the CA 1998 to deal with anti-competitive practices. Currently, these duties generally require that a regulator may not take the relevant kind of enforcement action in a case in which it decides that a more appropriate way of proceeding would be under its CA 1998 powers. This means there is at present an implicit requirement for sector regulators to consider the CA 1998 before using their sector powers. Under the amendments made by Schedule 14 there will be an explicit duty on each regulator to consider whether a more appropriate way of proceeding would be under the CA 1998 before using its sector-specific powers. The intention behind this change in emphasis is to encourage regulators to turn their minds to the question of whether the CA 1998 route is more appropriate at an earlier stage.
379.Ofcom’s current duty in broadcasting (as opposed to electronic communications and postal services) and the CAA’s duties under the Civil Aviation Act 2012 to consider relying on the CA 1998 are not amended by Schedule 14 as these already are framed in terms of the regulator having first to consider the CA 1998.
380.In addition, Schedule 14 amends certain provisions of the Electricity Act 1989 and the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 relating to the determination of questions arising as to whether the powers under the CA 1998 are exercisable by a regulator in a particular case. In order to create greater consistency, the amendments align the wording of some of these provisions with the general approach in the equivalent provision in the other sectoral legislation listed above.
381.Paragraph 16 of Schedule 4 is also relevant to the provisions made by section 51 and Schedule 14 in that it requires the CMA to publish an annual report outlining co-operation between the CMA and the sector regulators and the use of competition powers by it and regulators in the sectors where concurrent powers apply.