Office of the Internal Market launches in the UK following Brexit

The Government has recently announced the launch of the new Office of the Internal Market (OIM), which is part of the Competition and Markets Authority.

The general purpose of the OIM is to support the four nations’ governments (Scottish Government, Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government) in ensuring effective internal market trading following Brexit.

The OIM has created a digital reporting service, which businesses can use to share their views on how the UK’s internal market is operating, including reporting any issues they are facing in trading across the internal market (for example, incurring increased costs in meeting different product standards across different parts of the UK). The OIM can also provide impartial advice to businesses on the rules and requirements across the internal market.

The OIM is expected to produce the first State of the UK Internal Market report in Spring 2022, which will consider the information provided by businesses using the digital reporting service.