Digital Markets Competition 2023-05-18
2023-05-18
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill is being assessed for its impact on competition in digital markets.
What assessment has the Department made of the potential impact of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill on levels of competition between businesses in digital markets?
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will establish a new pro-competition regime for digital markets. This will boost competition between businesses in digital markets, driving productivity, growth and innovation.
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Assessment & feedback
Specific assessment details were not provided, only general statements about the bill's intent to boost competition.
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The Competition and Markets Authority's ruling blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard has made the UK an outlier in regulatory approach.
The Competition and Markets Authority's recent ruling blocking the acquisition of Activision Blizzard has made us an outlier. Its intervention in the nascent, innovative cloud gaming market was based on potential rather than real market power. You will know, Mr Speaker, that regulators have as much of a lever on growth in the economy as the Government. As we are doing in financial services, all regulators should have a remit for growth, and maybe—just maybe—we can call them “regulators for growth”.
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his question. He may have noticed that we recently launched a paper, “Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy”, so we absolutely agree with that point. Some of the measures it proposes are about ensuring that Ministers, officials and others look at alternatives to regulation, rather than jumping straight to regulation, and have an earlier impact assessment of what regulation would mean for businesses' costs, rather than just looking at other factors.
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Assessment & feedback
No concrete commitment was made beyond agreeing with the general principle that regulators should promote growth.
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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Context
The European Parliament has passed the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation, providing the first rules for governing the crypto industry.
A huge element of growth in the digital market is the crypto industry. The European Parliament has just signed off the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation. That ambitious and forward-thinking law gives the European Union the first rules to govern the crypto industry. When will this Government do the same?
We are looking at the crypto sector carefully, and there was a report yesterday from the Treasury Committee on that matter. The crypto sector is moving at pace, and it is important that regulation keeps up with that. We have regulated already on some of the promotions around cryptocurrency, and it is something we will keep under scrutiny.
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Assessment & feedback
No specific timeline or commitment was given for implementing regulations similar to those in the EU.
Response accuracy