The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma, has reappointed Andrea Coscelli as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) until July 2022. Dr Coscelli has held the position of CEO since July 2016, and has been an Executive Director at the CMA since 2013. Most recently, Dr Coscelli was awarded a CBE for services to Competitive Markets in the 2020 New Year Honours.
Prior to joining the CMA, Dr Coscelli was the Director of Economic Analysis at Ofcom, the regulatory and competition authority of the telecommunications, postal and broadcasting industries. He was previously a Vice President at Charles River Associates where he represented many different businesses on competition and regulation matters in various European countries.
The CMA is the UK's independent competition authority. It has responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law, with the aim of making markets work well for consumers, business and the economy.
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma said:
"I am pleased to reappoint Andrea Coscelli as Chief Executive of the Competition and Markets Authority.
"His experience will be invaluable in maintaining the Authority's strong reputation both here in the UK and internationally for standing up for consumers."
Lord Tyrie, Competition and Markets Authority Chairman, said:
"It's been a pleasure to work with Andrea over the last couple of years, making the decisions that matter to people and seeing some real wins in the way big markets operate.
"Over the coming years, competition can and should work even better for the British public and meet the demands of their everyday life, which is why we will carefully monitor all sectors to ensure people truly are getting the best deals."
Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive Officer of the Competition and Markets Authority, said:
"The last four years have been exciting, challenging and rewarding, so I greatly look forward to leading the CMA into its next phase and tackling some big projects head-on. Like many organisations, our immediate priority is Covid-19 and we will be monitoring market developments to enable us to intervene as quickly as possible, if needed. Ultimately, consumers must be at the centre; people expect regulators to stand up for them and that's exactly what we are going to do.
"The CMA has been more active than ever recently, so we need to keep that momentum going and not be afraid to make tough decisions, particularly following our recent departure from the EU. With well-established processes and a team of skilled staff behind me, I have no doubt that we will rise to the challenge."
Notes
The CMA has responsibility for:
- investigating mergers which could restrict competition
- conducting market studies and investigations in markets where there may be competition and consumer problems
- investigating where there may be breaches of UK or EU prohibitions against anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant positions
- bringing criminal proceedings against individuals who commit the cartel offence
- enforcing consumer protection legislation to tackle practices and market conditions that make it difficult for consumers to exercise choice
- co-operating with sector regulators and encouraging them to use their competition powers
- considering regulatory references and appeals.
Its responsibilities are supported by a range of powers which are based on the Enterprise and Regulatory Act 2013.
