Following swiftly on from the closure of the investigation into MFN clauses in relation to auction houses, the CMA has now opened what appears to be a similar investigation into home insurance comparison websites.
The CMA seems to have concerns that the use of MFN clauses by an unnamed home insurance comparison website might affect competition.
MFN clauses operated by businesses with significant market shares have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with Amazon agreeing not to enforce them in contracts with publishers. However, the CMA is clear that it has not drawn any firm conclusions...
On 26 September 2017, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into suspected breaches of the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU in the use of certain retail ‘most favoured nation’ clauses by a price comparison website in relation to home insurance products. Retail ‘most favoured nation’ clauses in online retailing require the provider of a product (good or service) to price that product via the online outlet (in this case, the price comparison website) at a price that is as low or lower than the price at which the product is sold at rival outlets. The CMA has previously expressed particular concerns where the rival outlets covered by the retail most favoured nation clause include rival comparison websites...
https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/price-comparison-website-use-of-most-favoured-nation-clauses
