On October 15, 2018, the U.K. FCA published its finalized Approach to Competition, following feedback to its consultation between December 2017 and March 2018 on a draft of its approach document. The FCA's Approach to Competition should be read alongside the FCA Mission, which was first published in October 2016.
In the approach document, the FCA outlines its "competition objective" of promoting effective competition in the interests of consumers in particular markets and its "competition duty," which requires it to discharge its general functions in a way that promotes effective competition in the interests of consumers. It then explains how it advances its competition objective by: (i) using market studies to examine market structures and dynamics and imposing rule changes to improve consumer outcomes if necessary; (ii) using its powers under the Competition Act 1998 to investigate anti-competitive behavior under U.K. and EU law; and (iii) implementing regulation with the aim of supporting competition in the interests of consumers.
The approach document provides details of how the four-step decision-making framework outlined in its Mission applies in the context of its competition work. Due to the complexity of competition issues, the FCA explains that it uses a number of benchmarks to identify potential harm. Having established a potential for harm, the FCA has a range of diagnostic tools at its disposal for investigating further. Proposed remedies to competition problems will follow on from the type of investigation conducted. The approach document concludes with an explanation of how the FCA evaluates the impact of its interventions and the outcomes in markets.
The Approach to Competition is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/our-approachcompetition-final-report-feedback-statement.pdf and the FCA Mission is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/corporate-documents/our-mission.
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