The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a new temporary chairman: Doug Gurr, who used to work at Amazon.
The news comes as the U.K. aims to be a country that supports growth and technology by reducing rules and regulations, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). The country is also nearing the end of a long investigation into the domestic cloud services market that had Amazon fully in the CMA’s crosshairs.
In its release on Tuesday, the government highlighted Gurr’s experience at Amazon to help “boost growth and support the economy,” saying that he will bring valuable knowledge from his time in the industry.
“This Government has a clear Plan for Change — to boost growth for businesses and communities across the U.K.,” Jonathan Reynolds, the U.K.’s secretary of state for business and trade, said in a statement. “We want regulators, like the CMA, to make decisions that help businesses grow and boost the economy, leading to more money for everyone.”
The Influence Of Big Technology Companies
Gurr started working for Amazon’s U.K division in 2011 as the Vice President of the “hardlines” section, which dealt with items like gardening tools and toys. He became the country manager for Amazon in China in 2014, then returned to lead operations in the U.K. in 2016. Gurr left Amazon in 2020 to become the head of the Natural History Museum.
Marcus Bokkerink, the outgoing chair, has a background more in consulting than in business. He served in his role for less than three years, which is shorter than the usual five-year term. Reports say that Chancellor Rachel Reeves was not impressed after a meeting with U.K. regulators last week, which led to changes in leadership.
It’s important to mention that even though Gurr is filling the position temporarily, the CMA’s CEO, Sarah Cardell, was also named as interim CEO in 2022 before becoming the permanent CEO.
This doesn’t mean Gurr will definitely be chosen, but it shows the kind of person the government wants to lead the country’s trade regulator. This agency is currently looking into major tech companies for various suspected violations.
Alex Haffner, a competition partner at the law company Fladgate, believes Gurr’s appointment is not surprising because it comes at a time when the U.K. is promoting its growth plans. He also noted that Gurr’s background is “unashamedly commercial” compared to his predecessor.
Over and above that, however, this selection raises questions about how the CMA might approach its enforcement of rules around big tech across verticals.
“Stakeholders will now be looking at how the new appointment affects the CMA’s enforcement approach,” Haffner said in a statement to Parhlo World. “Recent signs show that it is paying attention to criticism of past decisions and may be more open to being flexible, as seen in the recent approval of the Vodafone and Three deal.” The new Chair is starting their role while the CMA has gained important new powers from the Digital Markets Competition and Consumer Act. This gives the CMA more control over big tech companies. As a result, the CMA is expected to be more active, but it will carefully consider how to enforce these powers to encourage competition and boost economic growth.
The Open Cloud Coalition, a lobby group supported by Google, started in October to gain support from European lawmakers. They “congratulated” Gurr on his new role as temporary chair. However, Nicky Stewart, senior adviser to the Open Cloud Coalition, urged the regulator not to lose sight of its ongoing probe into the cloud services market, which counts Amazon as the runaway market leader.
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“As the CMA’s investigation into the cloud market moves into an important stage, we encourage the regulator to remain focused and take strong steps to make the cloud market fairer and more competitive, benefiting businesses, consumers, and the overall digital economy,” Stewart said in a statement to Parhlo World. “The cloud industry can grow only when everyone has equal opportunities. As we explained in our paper, we need important actions to encourage innovation and investment in this field.”
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