Coalition “Concerned” for the United Kingdom, the appointment of a former Amazon contractor as chairman of the antitrust regulator

A coalition of organizations and persons have signed an open letter expression concern In the UK government appointment decision Former Amazon CEO as chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The group, which includes American technological outfits like Yelp, Duckduckgo and Mozilla, says CMA should be “free from political pressure” if it wants to maintain major technology and “unlock positive economic results for the whole economy.”

For the context, the UK Antitrust Regulator has investigates Big Tech for any way of violations and together with his colleagues in the European Union (EU), CMA played a role in maintaining the main players of the technological world under control by Blocking acquisitions and forcing salesS

However, the United Kingdom seeks to be repositioned as a prostage, a leakage nation by cutting bureaucracy and bureaucracyS And as part of it, it seems that the government wants to make more attractive to external investment by shaking its antitrust unit.

Last month, Reports appeared That the United Kingdom of Business and Trade has taken down CMA Chairman Marcus Bokkerink by making a way for Doug gur (Pictured above), who has been working in various roles in the United Kingdom of Amazon and China in China for nearly a decade. Gur left the Amazon In 2020 To become the director of the Museum of Natural History.

“This government has a clear plan for change – to increase the growth of business and communities in the UK,” Jonathan ReynoldsThe United Kingdom Secretary of State for Business and Trade, a statement at that time said. “As we have gone, we want to see regulators, including CMA, superficating the economy with pro-business solutions that will stimulate prosperity and growth, investing more money in people’s pockets.”

“Loss of Vision”

It is worth noting that the appointment of gour is only temporary. But this signals the thinking of the government regarding the type of person who wants to fulfill the role – someone with deep relationships with great technology. It message Last month, the government said Gur’s past on Amazon would give him the opportunity to “bring extensive experience” from his work in the technology sector.

And this move has now encouraged some two dozen bodies to turn to a letter to several senior government ministers, including Reynolds and Casier Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The fact that signators include Duckduckgo, Yelp and Mozilla reveal how the smaller technology companies view Europe (including the UK) as a buffer to the global influence of Big Tech.

Other organizations, such as the Future of the Institute of Technology, the Book Sellers Association, the Application Coalition and the Open Markets Institute also put their names in the letter.

“After removing the CMA chairman and his replacement with a former Amazon CEO, we worry that the United Kingdom government loses its commitment to stable competition to the competition of Dmu (A unit for digital markets) Mode and the operational independence of CMA, “the letter said. “Long-term, sustainable and inclusive growth and innovation will not be achieved if CMA is focused solely on the interests of the largest companies and is diverted by its main mandate for maintaining and promoting competitive markets.”

CMA digital market unit was created specifically To deal with major technologies and signature letters note that this unit should not be compromised by political influence.

“The new DMU regime must trust the government, regardless of political pressure if it wants to unlock positive economic results for the whole economy,” the letter said. “Only then will major technology companies be forced to make honest conversations with business and consumers how to promote positive economic results instead of putting pressure on the bay regulator of the required bold funds. In short, DMU – and CMA – will only be able to promote growth if they are truly operatively independent. “

The full text of the letter and the list of signatures are included below.

RT Hon Rachel Reeves MP
Cashier
HM Ministry of Finance
1 time for a horse guard
London
SW1A 2HQ
UK

Cc: RT Hon Jonathan Reynolds, MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade; RT Hon Peter Kyle MP, Secretary of State of Science, Innovation and Technology; Baroness Jones from Wicherch, Parliamentary Secretary of State for the future digital economy and online safety

Dear Chancellor,

We are a wide group of technology companies with Challenger and average size, trade associations, civil society organizations and experts who have long demanded more competition in digital markets through the new digital market regime (“DMU”). Like the Prime Minister, we want to see the authority of competition and markets (“CMA”) to take growth seriously. But sustainable growth and inclusive innovation will only be achieved by destroying barriers over competition, not by leaving them.

Following the removal of the CMA chairman and his replacement with a former CEO of Amazon, we are worried that the United Kingdom government was losing its commitment to a stable implementation of the DMU regime and CMA’s operational independence. Long-term, sustainable and inclusive growth and innovation will not be achieved if CMA is focused solely on the interests of the largest companies and is diverted by its main mandate for maintaining and promoting competitive markets.

The Law on Former Powers of Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (“DMCCA”) are completely different from other CMA powers, such as the merge regime designed as well as to make adapted, targeted decisions for regulating a handful companies with a handful Super competitive power. The new DMU regime must be trusted by the government and regardless of political pressure if it wants to unlock positive economic results for the whole economy. Only then will large technology companies be forced to make honest conversations with business and consumers how to promote positive economic results instead of putting pressure on the regulator to trigger the necessary bold medicines. In short, DMU – and CMA – will only be able to promote growth if they are truly operatively independent.

The Labor Party has long supported the need for stable and urgent action to deal with the monopolization of the United Kingdom technology sector, including during the passage of DMCCA. We agree with you when you wrote that “the new monopolies of capitalism on the platform such as Google, Facebook and Amazon (…) exercise monopoly power over knowledge and information” and “block competitive markets.” You are right to say that “monopolies need to be broken to ensure that markets are competitive.”

Ever since you wrote these words in 2018, it has changed a little – in fact the largest operating technological monopolies have gained power and now they use their dominance to ensure that the new markets are strangled. As established by The Furman Review and numerous expert studies that follow around the world, the bigger competition in digital markets applied by independent and impartial regulators is the key to unlocking the government’s main mission for economic growth, not an obstacle to him. The CMA independence must be strictly protected if it wants to pursue its mission to aggressive lobbying from technology giants and other interests, the sole purpose of which is to protect the dots that protect their monopoly rentals.

If the British business is finally able to compete with large technology companies on equal terms, it will unlock critical investment, innovation and growth without limiting the ability of these companies to invest in the UK economy if they choose. In fact, the proper application of DMCCA will develop growth in the UK economy.

CMA showed that Apple and Google were able to earn over £ 4 billion in 2021 from its mobile companies in the UK over what is needed for investor’s fair reward. The regulator also showed that the price of digital advertising was 500 pounds per household in 2019 – or a total of 14 billion British pounds – far higher than it would be in a competitive market. Open choice, confidence and transparency and honest deals will help British companies flourish and give the UK users a better, cheaper and wider spectrum of products and services. The more competitive and diverse digital economy will help to ensure that the benefits of new technologies are shared broader, reduce the dangerous dependencies of the UK, and give citizens much more autonomy and the choice of how they share information and interact With each other online.

We note that the briefings to the press have said that “there was power beyond the board of business” regarding the presentation of CMA as the government hearing “Misery of All”. We would encourage the government to listen to more hundreds of thousands of companies in the UK, which have to do business in monopolized markets every day, and to properly check the funding and independence of lobbying groups who claim to represent the interests of small business and start -up companies to find out which groups are really representative of the broader economy.

In fact, we remain in support of the approach that CMA has undertaken in recent years in developing the new competition regime for digital markets, exploring the harmful behavior of the largest operating technology companies, investigating mergers that further risk the concentration and construction of the world and the construction of the world The world is additionally building a world -the successful team of digital and technological experts. This is an internationally respected regulator, not least because of its approach to digital regulation, which is now followed throughout the world.

We hope that the government will use its forthcoming strategically targeted CMA to confirm its commitments to the regulator’s operational independence and to the rapid implementation of the new competition regime for digital markets. We will welcome the opportunity to meet you to discuss how we can work together to achieve this.

Yours honestly,

Faces:

• Professor Amelia Fletcher, CBE, University of East Anglia (former default, CMA; Member, expert in digital competition at HM Creasury-Furman Review)
• Professor Derek McCouly, University of Nottingham (Member, Expert of Expert Competition at HM Creasury Digital – Furman Review)
• Professor Philip Marsden, Bank of England (Member, Expert of Expert Competition at HM Creasury Digital – Furman Review)
• Sir Vince Cable, Former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

Organizations:

• Article 19
• A project for a balanced economy
• Association of Book Sellers
• Application Coalition
• DuckDuckgo
• Ecosia
• Foxglove
• The future of the Technology Institute
• Getyourguide
• Kelkoo Group
• Mindero Technology and Democracy Center at the University of Cambridge
• Mozila
• Media Association
• Online Dating and Discovery Association (ODDA)
• Open Markets Institute
• Proton
• Foundation for News of Public Interest
• PPA (Association of Professional Publishers)
• Technique
• Responsible online trading coalition
• Skyscanner
• Authors
• What?
• Yelp