Commitments in the Showmen’s Guild competition case

First published by Author on August 25, 2018 in the following categories: Investigations and tagged with cma | market abuse

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) accepted commitments made after the Showmen’s Guild competition case, with a link to rules of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain 2018 published last month.

The case itself surrounded the use of rules issued by the Showmen’s Guild that reduced the ability of new attractions to join fairs, thus limiting competition. Potentially millions of funfair visitors could be affected by the issue, resulting in a stifling of competition and deprived access to new and improved rides and attractions with motivation for invocation in the sector potentially low.

With members of the Showmen’s Guild making up for some 90% of the sector in the UK, and worth an estimated £100m a year, any competition issue in the sector could clearly have a huge impact on the consumers.

CMA investigation into Showmen’s Guild competition concerns

The CMA’s investigation into the Showmen’s Guild competition issues led to a concern that the rules put in place by the Guild made it hard for non-Guild members to attract amusements to their fairs, making competing against the Guild fairs incredibly difficult.

As the CMA’s press release about their findings stated:

There is also potentially little incentive or ability for fair organisers, including local authorities, or amusement operators to improve what they offer or to set up new fairs, so that fair-goers across the UK potentially have less choice and access to fewer fairs than they might otherwise have.

In cases where local authorities do try to alter or improve a fair without the consent of the Guild, its members can boycott the whole fair as a result of the rules, as happened in Newcastle in 2013 which meant the Hoppings Fair did not go ahead leading to around half a million fair-goers who usually attend missing out.

Rule changes accepted as commitment to abate Showmen’s Guild competition issue

Rule changes were accepted by the CMA that should resolve the Showmen’s Guild competition concerns highlighted by the competition watchdog. These include:

• Non-members being able to operate in Guild-run fairs;
• Reducing restrictions for rival fairs opening near Guild fairs;
• Greater transparency of Guild rules.

Links to the rules were published last month, and the new rules should allow for the fair-goer consumers to have a better choice and enjoy more competitive prices as competition becomes more open in the sector.

Good competition = competitive prices and therefore savings for the consumer (which is what we all want) as well as incentives for innovation and sector improvement (which we also all want, of course).