Vectura: Philip Morris International

(asked on 19th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the Competition and Markets Authority did not investigate whether Philip Morris International’s takeover of Vectura violated competition law.


Answered by
Paul Scully Portrait
Paul Scully
This question was answered on 22nd October 2021

Decisions on which mergers to investigate on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is an independent non-ministerial department.

The CMA’s role in respect of merger control was set out by Parliament in the Enterprise Act 2002. The Act set limits on the CMAs jurisdiction and the standard by which it must assess those transactions. In particular, the CMA must assess whether a transaction “Has resulted or may be expected to result, in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the UK for goods or services.”

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