1. Approaches to failing markets Daniel Gordon Office of Fair Trading BIICL Transaltantic Antitrust Dialogue 2 May 2007

2. OFT uses a wide range of tools to address failing markets SoftHard Informal Advice Published Papers Enforcement Competition Consumer Market Reference Market Study Regulatory Impact Assessment Purpose Help policy makers while they develop their policies Thought pieces on key competition issues Feedback to Government on how the policy proposed affects competition Holistic view of markets or sectors to identify changes that will improve consumer benefit and/or productivity Refer markets where problems exist that can be solved through order Cartels Agreements Dominance Unfair Contract Terms Misleading Adverts etc.

3. Market Studies Scoping/Fact-finding Further OFT Action Market Investigation by Competition Commission Recommendations to Government Action by others

4. Market Studies – What have we done? 24 market studies completed to date: ● Care homes ● Classified directory advertising services ● Commercial Use of Public Information ● Consumer IT services ● Debt consolidation ● Doorstep selling ● Estate agents ● Extended warranties for electrical goods ● Financial Services and Markets Act ● Liability insurance market ● Liability insurance follow-up review ● New car warranties ● Payment Protection Insurance ● Payment Systems ● Pharmacies ● Pharmaceutical price regulation scheme ● Private dentistry ● Property searches ● Public sector procurement ● Public subsidies ● Store cards ● Taxi Services ● Ticket agents ● UK Airports

5. The approach we take ● A presumption against intervening in markets ● Evidence-based approach ● Strong focus on government activity ● Flexible approach subject to principles of good project management ● Active stakeholder strategy for each study

6. How we choose what to look at? Initial set of ideas Prioritisation Criteria Launch

7. Some comments/observations ● How do we choose between instruments? ● Role of evaluation ● What are the limits to what we should look at?