Will the New U.K. Competition and Markets Authority Make Better Antitrust Decisions?

The United Kingdom has a unique set of institutions charged with enforcing competition law. The twin pillars are the Competition Commission (“CC”) and the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”). In the coming parliament, legislation will be passed to merge them into a new Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”), probably with effect from 2014.2 They each have a high reputation and are regularly ranked alongside the DOJ, FTC, and DG Competition as among the best in the world. OK, few would argue that any of these institutions is unimprovable, but it does mean there is much that could be lost if the CMA is less effective than its predecessors. Should we be worried?