FG15/8 - FCA's powers and procedures under the Competition Act 1998

Read FG15/8 [PDF][1]

This guidance is for firms and their advisers, setting out our powers and how we investigate and enforce against potential breaches of UK competition law in relation to the provision of financial services in the UK and claims management services in Great Britain.

We first published our guidance in July 2015 following a consultation[2] exercise and a Policy Statement[3]. We have updated it twice: in April 2018 and in January 2022.

January 2022 update

We updated our guidance to:

1. remove references to the FCA enforcing Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 
2. include a section clarifying the FCA’s competition powers following EU withdrawal
3. make clear that since April 2019 our competition law jurisdiction extends to the provision of claims management services in Great Britain
4. make certain procedural changes that reflect changes adopted by the Competition and Markets Authority in its procedural guidance (CMA8 Guidance on the CMA’s Investigation Procedures in Competition Act 1998 cases). These include:
   • issuing any draft penalty statement at the same time as the statement of objections (see paragraph 5.7) 
   • providing more detail on streamlined access to file arrangements (see paragraphs 5.11 and 5.12) 
   • the discontinuation of ‘Formal Complainant’ status
   • requiring all interim measures applications to be accompanied by a declaration of truth from the applicant (see paragraph 4.16)
5. describe our practice of applying penalty reductions where a party obtains approval for a voluntary redress scheme (see paragraph 6.20)

In addition to the specific changes listed above, we have made minor drafting changes for clarity and/or to reflect our practical experience of investigation under the Competition Act 1998.