Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

CMA definition

What does CMA mean? In practice, CMA refers to the UK’s competition and markets authority, the national competition regulator that investigates mergers, cartels and abuse of dominance and enforces consumer protection law. The body is created and named by statute (Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013) and exercises powers principally under the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002, now complemented by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Key functions include UK merger control (Phase 1/Phase 2), market studies and market investigations, antitrust enforcement with administrative fines, acceptance of commitments and remedies, criminal cartel enforcement, director disqualification, and consumer law enforcement....

A.C. Nielsen v CMA: CAT quashes OFT’s IRi/Aztec merger clearance and remits to CMA following new exclusivity evidence

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

CASE HUB ARCHIVED

This archived case hub reflects the position as at the order dated 4 July 2014 and is no longer maintained. See further, timeline, commentary and related cases.

Case facts

Outline

A.C. Nielsen Company Limited appealed the OFT’s clearance of the Information Resources Inc./Aztec Group merger and its decision not to refer the transaction to the Competition Commission (case 1227/4/12/14). On 4 July 2014, the CAT set aside the OFT’s decision and sent the matter back to the CMA.

Parties

A.C. Nielsen Company Limited (A.C. Nielsen) — a US-based market research company operating in more than 100 countries, supplying retail measurement services in the UK.
Competition and Markets Authority — took over the OFT’s functions on 1 April 2014.
Information Resources Inc. (IRi) — a US-based company that acquired Aztec Group.

Background

On 18 October 2013, the OFT was notified that Information Resources Inc. had completed its acquisition of Aztec Group. On 13 December 2013, the OFT decided to clear the merger and not refer it for a phase 2 investigation before the Competition Commission; the decision was published on 24 March 2014...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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