EU and UK competition law expert, Stephen Smith, has been quoted in Global Competition Review’s article on 24 November 2023, ‘Lawyers cautiously optimistic about CMA Phase II reforms’.

The piece summarises the CMA’s Phase II reforms and how the ‘proposals mark the first major reform of the agency’s Phase II process since its formation in 2013.’

Stephen Smith commented that the agency’s interactions with parties must not be ‘mere procedural checkbox exercises’ and that consultation discussions on remedy design and iterative feedback must be ‘high-quality and substantive’ in practice.

The CMA stated that ‘the potential benefits of the proposed reforms rely on merging parties engaging with the CMA in good faith and with credible remedies offers.’

To read the full article, see the GCR website (subscription required). We discuss other competition law news on The CLIP Board.