About us
The OIM’s objective is to support the effective operation of the UK Internal Market. It assesses whether the Internal Market is operating effectively and provides expert and independent advice to UK government and devolved administrations.
The Office for the Internal Market (OIM) is part of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The OIM independently advises the UK government and the devolved administrations on how specific laws, rules and regulations impact the UK Internal Market and reports on how well it is working.
The OIM’s functions are set out in the UK Internal Market Act 2020.
What is the Office for the Internal Market
The UK Internal Market
A purpose of the UK Internal Market regime is to provide certainty for businesses that they can trade freely across the whole of the UK.
This regime, introduced by the UK Internal Market Act, includes the market access principles of:
- ‘Mutual Recognition’; and
- ‘Non-Discrimination’
Put simply, these principles help to ensure that goods and services can be sold throughout the UK, and that certain qualifications held by individual professionals are recognized across the UK.
The UK government and the devolved administrations (Northern Ireland Executive, Scottish Government and Welsh Government) are responsible for making decisions that shape how the UK Internal Market functions.
Responsibilities
The OIM has a responsibility to provide expert, technical and independent advice to UK government and devolved administrations about the Internal Market.
The OIM’s advice is non-binding; it can draw attention to issues, but it cannot require lawmakers to make changes to policy or legislation.
The OIM will also monitor, assess and report on how effectively the UK Internal Market is operating and it will publish yearly and 5-yearly reports.
The OIM is keen to engage with businesses, consumers, professionals, and other stakeholders about their experiences of operating across the UK Internal Market.
You can tell us about a UK Internal Market issue by using our reporting service.
OIM annual and 5-yearly reports (2022 to 2023)
Project timetable
| Date | Action |
| July 2022 | Publication of Expression of Interest (roundtables) |
| Autumn 2022 | Stakeholder roundtables |
| Autumn / Winter 2022 | Further external engagement as required (for example, external research, bilateral engagement with interested stakeholders, continuing engagement with all 4 UK governments, etc) |
| By 31 March 2023 | Publication of OIM annual and 5-yearly reports |
Under the Act, the OIM must, by 31 March 2023, and following that at least once every year, prepare a report on the operation of the internal market in the UK, and developments as to the effectiveness of the operation of that market.
It is anticipated that this first annual report could, for example:
- set out broad trends and developments in the UK internal market
- present and provide commentary on data and other evidence collected through our monitoring tools
- include commentary on specific major regulatory changes with broad impacts across sectors, as well as narrower sector-level developments
- contain evidence from OIM-commissioned in-depth interviews with businesses, and analysis of research published by external sources
- provide analysis of, and commentary on, submissions received from interested parties during the relevant annual period.
More information can be found on the OIM’s Expressions of Interest consultation page.
In addition, under the Act the OIM must, by 31 March 2023, and following that at least once in every 5 years, prepare a report, amongst other matters, on the effectiveness of the operation of provisions of Parts 1 to 3 of the Act and the impact of common framework agreements (agreements between the UK government and one or more devolved nations’ governments on how to manage divergence) on the operation and development of the UK Internal Market.
It is anticipated that this report could, for example:
- provide a systemic review of the impact of the market access principles
- review the effectiveness of, and levels of familiarity with, the mutual recognition and non-discrimination principles, including whether improvements may be necessary
- consider the views of all relevant stakeholders to present an overview of how well the internal market is serving interested parties across the UK
- present and provide commentary on data and other relevant evidence collected through our monitoring tools
- incorporate findings from OIM-commissioned in-depth interviews with businesses, and from both targeted and general stakeholder engagement
- review the impact of Common Frameworks on the operation and development of the UK Internal Market, and any interaction between the operation of the market access principles and Common Frameworks
Further details on the OIM’s statutory reporting can be found in Guidance on the operation of the CMA’s UK Internal Market functions.
Our first report providing an Overview of the UK Internal Market was published in March 2022.