Competition Law, Cartel, Consumer Protection and Digital Markets Investigations

A Competition and Markets Authority investigation can arise without warning. The first indication may be a formal information notice, contact about pricing or commercial practices, a request to interview a director or employee, or investigators arriving at business premises without prior notice.

For a business, this can create immediate operational and reputational pressure. Management may need to preserve and produce substantial volumes of information while continuing to trade, responding to employees and protecting important customer, supplier and commercial relationships.

Individuals can also find themselves personally involved. A director, senior manager or employee may be required to explain decisions made months or years earlier, sometimes before it is clear whether they are being treated as a witness, a potential subject of enforcement action or a suspect in a criminal investigation.

The Competition and Markets Authority is the UK’s principal competition and consumer protection authority. Its responsibilities include investigating anti-competitive conduct, cartels, unfair trading practices, market problems, mergers and conduct within regulated digital markets.

Early strategic advice can help establish what powers are being used, what must be provided, what protections apply and how engagement should be managed from the outset.

The Legal Framework

CMA investigations may engage several overlapping statutory regimes.

• Competition Act 1998

  
  

  This prohibits anti-competitive agreements and the abuse of a dominant market position. It also provides the CMA with substantial powers to obtain information, interview individuals and inspect premises.

  
  

• Enterprise Act 2002

  
  

  This governs market and merger investigations and includes the criminal cartel offence, which can expose individuals to prosecution for certain price-fixing, market-sharing, supply restriction or bid-rigging arrangements.

  
  

• Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

  
  

  This strengthened the CMA’s competition and consumer enforcement powers, created the UK’s digital markets competition regime and introduced the current statutory framework for unfair commercial practices.

  
  

Other legislation may also apply, including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, particularly where an investigation concerns unfair consumer terms or misleading business-to-business advertising.

The correct approach depends on the legal regime being used. A competition investigation, consumer enforcement case and criminal cartel investigation may involve different procedures, safeguards and potential consequences.

What Can the CMA Investigate?

The CMA’s remit extends well beyond traditional cartel investigations. It can examine conduct affecting competitors, consumers and the operation of entire markets.

Common areas of scrutiny include:

• Anti-competitive agreements and cartel conduct

  
  

  This may include alleged price fixing, market sharing, bid rigging, restrictions on supply or the exchange of commercially sensitive information between actual or potential competitors.

  
  

• Abuse of a dominant position

  
  

  Investigations may concern exclusionary conduct, unfair or discriminatory terms, refusal to supply, predatory pricing or the use of market power to restrict competition.

  
  

• Unfair commercial practices

  
  

  The CMA may investigate misleading actions or omissions, aggressive sales practices, concealed mandatory charges, drip pricing, fake or misleading reviews, false scarcity claims and other practices capable of distorting consumer decisions.

  
  

• Digital markets conduct

  
  

  The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 enables the CMA to regulate designated businesses with strategic market status, impose conduct requirements and investigate suspected breaches.

  
  

The CMA can also conduct market studies, investigate mergers and examine systemic consumer problems affecting a particular industry or sector.

How a CMA Investigation May Begin

Investigations can originate from a complaint, market intelligence, information supplied by another regulator, a leniency application, media reporting or the CMA’s own monitoring and research.

The first contact may include:

• a voluntary request for information;

• a formal statutory information notice;

• a case-opening letter;

• a request to attend a compulsory interview;

• an invitation to an interview under caution in a criminal investigation; or

• an announced or unannounced inspection of premises.

In consumer investigations, the CMA may also monitor websites, observe business conduct or purchase goods, services or digital content to assess how a business deals with consumers.

Receiving a request for information does not necessarily mean that the recipient is personally under investigation. However, the response may influence whether an investigation is opened, expanded or directed towards particular businesses or individuals.

Formal Information Notices

The CMA can require businesses and individuals to provide information relevant to an investigation. A notice may seek internal documents, emails, instant messages, customer information, transaction data, complaints, reports, policies and other business records.

Information notices can be extensive and may impose demanding deadlines. They require more than simply collecting documents and sending them to the CMA. The recipient should consider:

• the precise statutory basis and scope of the notice;

• whether clarification or an extension is required;

• how potentially responsive information will be preserved;

• whether material is legally privileged;

• whether an answer may engage protections against self-incrimination; and

• whether the proposed response is complete, accurate and properly verified.

The CMA’s information-gathering powers can apply to businesses and information outside the UK where the relevant statutory conditions are satisfied. International businesses should not assume that information held overseas falls outside the investigation.

Failure to comply without reasonable excuse, concealing information or providing false or misleading information can create additional regulatory or criminal exposure.

Compelled Interviews and Interviews Under Caution

The nature of an interview must be identified before any substantive engagement takes place.

A compelled interview may require an individual to answer questions relevant to a civil competition, digital markets or consumer investigation. The applicable legislation may restrict how compelled answers can subsequently be used, but the individual must still approach the interview carefully and understand the limits of any available protection.

An interview under caution is different. It indicates that a criminal offence is suspected and that the answers given, or a refusal to answer, may be relied upon in later proceedings.

Directors and employees should not assume that the interests of the business and the individual are identical. Separate advice may be required where there is a risk of conflicting accounts, personal criticism or individual liability.

Preparation may include reviewing the relevant chronology, identifying the status and legal basis of the interview, considering the available evidence and ensuring the individual understands how to respond accurately without speculation.

Unannounced Inspections and Dawn Raids

An unannounced inspection can be highly disruptive. CMA officers may attend a head office, branch, retail site or other business premises. Depending on the powers being exercised, they may inspect and copy documents, access electronic devices, require explanations, preserve evidence or seize and detain material.

Search powers can extend to electronic information accessible from the premises, including material stored on remote servers or systems outside the UK. In some circumstances, the CMA may also obtain a warrant to search domestic premises.

When investigators arrive, the immediate priorities ordinarily include:

• confirming the identity and authority of the officers;

• obtaining and reviewing the notice or warrant;

• contacting legal advisers immediately;

• preserving potentially relevant information;

• identifying and protecting legally privileged material; and

• ensuring staff do not obstruct the inspection or provide speculative explanations.

A business should cooperate with lawful requirements while ensuring that the inspection remains within the scope of the power being exercised.

Where appropriate, representations may be made about the relevance of material, privilege, the treatment of electronic data or the terms of a warrant. Any challenge must be considered quickly and without obstructing investigators.

Unfair Trading and Consumer Protection Investigations

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 replaced and updated the previous unfair trading regime for commercial practices occurring from 6 April 2025.

The legislation prohibits practices including:

• misleading actions and misleading omissions;

• aggressive commercial practices;

• conduct falling below professional diligence requirements;

• omission of material information from an invitation to purchase; and

• specified practices regarded as unfair in all circumstances.

Investigations may concern headline prices that exclude unavoidable charges, misleading discount claims, false time-limited offers, fake reviews, pressure selling, bait advertising, inaccurate product descriptions or important information being hidden within the online purchasing journey.

The CMA can now determine certain consumer law infringements directly, give directions, require redress and impose substantial financial penalties without first obtaining a court judgment. Its powers extend beyond the unfair commercial practices provisions to a wider body of consumer protection legislation.

This represents a significant change for consumer-facing businesses. Conduct that may previously have led primarily to correspondence, undertakings or court-based enforcement can now result in a direct CMA investigation and financial penalty.

How a CMA Investigation Progresses

Although the procedure depends on the legislation being used, an investigation may broadly develop through the following stages.

• Initial enquiries and case opening

  
  

  The CMA may gather preliminary information before deciding whether there are reasonable grounds to open a formal investigation. A case-opening letter may then identify the conduct and legal framework being examined.

  
  

• Evidence gathering

  
  

  The CMA may issue information notices, interview witnesses, inspect premises, analyse electronic communications and obtain information from customers, suppliers, competitors and other third parties.

  
  

• Provisional findings

  
  

  In a Competition Act case, the CMA may issue a Statement of Objections setting out its provisional case. Under the direct consumer enforcement regime, it may issue a provisional infringement notice or decision.

  
  

• Representations and hearing

  
  

  The business or individual may be given access to relevant material and an opportunity to respond through written representations and, where available, an oral hearing.

  
  

• Final decision or closure

  
  

  The CMA may close the matter without further action, accept commitments, reach a settlement, issue directions, find an infringement or pursue criminal proceedings where an offence is alleged.

  
  

Opening an investigation does not mean that the CMA has concluded that the law has been broken. The evidence and representations made during the process may materially affect the final outcome.

Potential Consequences of a CMA Investigation

The consequences depend upon the nature and seriousness of the alleged conduct.

Competition and consumer enforcement can result in:

• financial penalties of up to 10% of worldwide turnover in relevant cases;

• directions requiring conduct to stop or business practices to change;

• commitments, undertakings and ongoing compliance requirements;

• orders to provide compensation or other redress to consumers;

• changes to websites, applications or other online interfaces;

• director disqualification;

• reputational damage and publication of the investigation or decision; and

• follow-on civil or collective damages claims.

Individuals convicted of the criminal cartel offence can face an unlimited fine and imprisonment of up to five years. Competition law involvement may also result in director disqualification for up to 15 years.

Separate offences and penalties may arise from obstructing investigators, destroying or concealing information, failing to comply with lawful requirements or knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information.

Can a CMA Investigation Be Challenged?

A CMA investigation should not simply be treated as an administrative exercise. The legal basis, evidential case and manner in which powers are exercised all require careful analysis.

Depending on the circumstances, the available response may include:

Clarifying or narrowing an information requirement

A notice may require clarification, a revised timeframe or focused discussion about categories of documents that are disproportionate, duplicative or outside the proper scope of the investigation.

Protecting privilege and individual rights

The CMA is not generally entitled to require the production of legally privileged communications. Protections against compelled self-incrimination may also apply, although they do not ordinarily permit a business to withhold existing non-privileged documents.

Responding to the evidence

Detailed factual and legal representations may challenge the CMA’s interpretation of communications, commercial conduct, pricing decisions, market conditions or consumer impact.

Challenging the exercise of investigatory powers

It may be possible to question the validity or scope of a notice, seek the variation or discharge of a warrant, challenge procedural unfairness or pursue an appeal or judicial review where the relevant legal test is met.

Considering commitments, settlement or leniency

In appropriate competition cases, commitments may address concerns without a formal infringement finding. Settlement or leniency may also be available, but each involves significant consequences and should only be considered after careful analysis. Leniency can be highly time-sensitive.

The appropriate strategy must be tailored to the evidence, the stage of the investigation and the wider commercial and personal risks.

How SPH Legal Assists

SPH Legal provides strategic consultancy support to businesses and individuals facing serious competition, consumer protection and regulatory investigations.

Working alongside a regulated law firm, support may include:

• Immediate strategic assessment

  
  

  Identifying the legal framework, the client’s status, the powers being exercised and the immediate steps required to protect the position.

  
  

• Information notices and evidence management

  
  

  Advising on scope, deadlines, preservation, legal privilege and the preparation of complete and accurate responses.

  
  

• Inspections and interviews

  
  

  Providing urgent advice during premises inspections and preparing directors, employees and other individuals for compelled interviews or interviews under caution.

  
  

• Representations and investigation strategy

  
  

  Analysing the evidential case, preparing responses to provisional findings and engaging with investigators to clarify, narrow or resolve disputed issues.

  
  

• Regulatory and criminal defence

  
  

  Coordinating the response where a CMA investigation overlaps with potential cartel offences, obstruction allegations, director liability or parallel action by another enforcement body.

Each matter is approached individually. Advice is shaped around the client’s role, commercial priorities, regulatory exposure, reputational concerns and the evidence available.

The focus is on early intervention, controlled engagement and a strategy that remains responsive as the investigation develops.

Related Areas of Expertise

CMA investigations can overlap with wider regulatory and criminal enquiries. Related areas include:

• Regulatory Investigations and Defence

• Interviews Under Caution

• Compelled Interviews

• Search Warrants and Premises Inspections

• Business Under Investigation

• Fraud and Financial Crime Investigations

• Serious and Complex Criminal Investigations

These areas can be explored further through the Fraud and Financial Crime and Regulatory Investigations and Defence pages.

Why Choose Sam Healey?

CMA investigations can place a business and its senior people under considerable pressure. Decisions may need to be made quickly, while the legal basis of the investigation, the available evidence and the risk to each individual are still developing.

Sam Healey has extensive experience advising individuals and businesses during serious, complex and reputationally sensitive criminal and regulatory investigations. His work includes early-stage strategy, compelled and caution interviews, search and seizure powers, director liability, complex financial evidence and engagement with enforcement authorities.

He is independently ranked by Chambers and Partners in both Crime and Financial Crime, and is recognised as a Leading Partner by The Legal 500. He is also listed as a Preeminent Criminal Defence Lawyer in the 2026 Doyles Guide.

Sam’s approach is personal, discreet and strategically focused. Clients receive clear advice, direct access and support tailored to the particular commercial, professional and personal consequences they face.

Frequently Asked Questions

Facing an Urgent CMA Investigation?

If CMA investigators have attended your premises, you have received a formal information notice or you have been asked to attend an interview, urgent advice may be required.

SPH Legal provides strategic support to businesses, directors and individuals facing competition, consumer protection and regulatory investigations from London to Manchester and nationwide.