Independent CMA concerns grow as law experts warn measures ‘likely’

A veterinary business leader has warned of growing fears from independent practices that their capacity to safeguard animal welfare could be undermined by current regulatory ideas.

XLVets chief executive Andrew Curwen has urged the sector to be clear about “what we truly value” as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation process continues.

But two leading competition law experts believe it is “increasingly likely” short-term measures will be needed before any hoped-for legislative reform takes effect.

Concerns have been widely raised since the CMA inquiry group published its ideas for potential remedies at the start of May, despite its insistence that its work remains ongoing.

Provisional decisions

Although a consultation process launched in response to that working paper has now closed, debate on its suggested measures is set to continue at the forthcoming BVA Live event in Birmingham before provisional decisions, expected in July, are outlined.

Mr Curwen told Vet Times that the inquiry process raised key questions for both the sector and wider society about what veterinary services should provide and how.

But he argued that the investigation’s interest in credence markets, where consumers cannot be sure of the quality of a purchased service, overlooked the importance of making human connections in practice.

He said: “I have spent a lot of time since the CMA published their proposed remedies talking to people in independent veterinary practice who are very concerned about the potential for the degradation of human connection resulting from many of the proposed remedies, and with that a degradation in their ability to support animal health and welfare.

“Let’s create a world where we are really clear what we truly value.”

Calls for collaboration

Mr Curwen’s intervention follows recent calls for collaboration across the sector to examine the CMA’s ideas and concerns raised by several of its leading organisations.

Some reports have also suggested that industry analysts think the remedy ideas could end up having a greater impact on independent practices than larger corporate groups if they are implemented.

But while they described the sector’s campaigning for legislative reform – such as a new Veterinary Surgeons Act (VSA) – as understandable, competition law academics David Reader and Scott Summers cautioned there was a long road ahead on that front that could strengthen the case for other actions.

They said: “Alongside VSA reform, it’s looking increasingly likely that the market is in need of remedies with more immediacy, which can be put in place to protect consumers and address anti-competitive outcomes – and, in doing so, put the market back on an even keel ahead of a new regulatory framework arriving.

“These remedies can seek to address market failures that may be arising on the consumer side [such as] the weak consumer response to price and structural issues which a reformed VSA may be in a position to ‘facilitate’, but not ‘correct’ in the first instance.”

Impact

SPVS and the Federation of Independent Practices (FIVP), the main body representing the independent sector, last week submitted a joint report on the CMA’s draft remedies, which they concluded “will have a disproportionately negative impact on independent practices”.

The report stated: “Many of the proposed remedies, such as mandatory prescriptions and price comparison, risked significant burden on smaller independent practices.

“We also suggest an over-emphasis on price transparency could contribute to the erosion of the vet-client-pet relationship.”

The RCVS also warned last week of the “risk of unintended consequences” from some of the proposals.