This background note summarises the Government of Bermuda’s announcements foreshadowing a Competition Act 2026, and is the first in a series of short articles in respect of this proposed legislation.
Competition consultations announced
Noting that it has limited tools to deal with market concentration outside of the electricity, telecommunication and submarine-cable sectors overseen by the Regulatory Authority, Bermuda’s government announced in November 2024 that it would commence consultations on amendments to existing legislation so to allow scrutiny of local mergers and acquisitions that concentrate significant power in essential sectors. The impetus was said to be a worrying consolidation in key industries, particularly food supply and financial services, purportedly resulting in an adverse impact on prices:
“In critical sectors, consumers may be faced with the loss of genuine choice in service and of the competition that is essential to achieve quality delivery at appropriate costs.”
The proposed scrutiny would allow the government to impose conditions on—and block—local mergers and acquisitions.1 As subsequently elaborated, the regime would apply to businesses that supply goods and services in Bermuda, and not to international business in Bermuda (e.g. international transactions by Bermuda exempted companies).2
Expansion of the Regulatory Authority’s mandate announced
Following the February 2025 general election which saw the governing party returned to power, in March 2025 the government announced that:
“[T]he Government will review and amend the Regulatory Authority’s mandate to oversee both regulated and unregulated sectors, ensuring transparent pricing, fair competition, enhanced consumer protection, and the power to prevent unnecessary concentration of market power in key sectors.”
The focus was very much on consumer protection, with the aforementioned Regulatory Authority to be renamed the Regulation & Competition Authority. This was announced as part of a wider package of affordability-related reforms in respect of regulating the cost of living, customer service, lending practices, home insurance, and electricity supply and pricing.3
Summer 2026 consultations for a Competition Act 2026
The consultation process foreshadowed in November 2024 was launched in mid-August 2026, with a timeframe of one month for stakeholders to provide input.4 Instead of merely amending existing legislation, as was initially proposed in 2024, the government now plans to table a bill in Bermuda’s parliament for a Competition Act 2026. The government states that, “The views received will shape the drafting of the Competition Act 2026 before the Government brings legislation to the Legislature.”
The expedited consultation and legislative process that would ostensibly lead to a Competition Act 2026 being given Royal Assent in a period of four-and-a-half months may have been triggered by a merger in Bermuda’s health-insurance sector followed by communications in February 2026 by the merged insurer to its insureds that certain prescriptions would only be covered if filled by a particular chain of pharmacies. Judging by the consultative policy document titled Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda, it appears that these developments may have caused the government to usher its already announced competition-law plans to the front of the legislative agenda.
Whilst the consultative policy document states that the government “asks for your views before the law is drafted”, that document also suggests that the government already has a strong idea as to what provisions the legislation should contain and, in all likelihood, the Competition Act 2026 is already drafted such that the consultation process would lead at most to revising the draft legislation before it is tabled.5
In commencing the consultation process in August 2026, the government acknowledged that some level of concentration is inevitable in a small economy, such that the focus of the new competition regime should be to “make that concentration serve consumers”.
In respect of the proposed Competition Act 2026, the government states that:
“The proposed law would establish rules to promote fair competition, address harmful business conduct, and provide for the review of certain mergers and acquisitions in essential sectors. Four principles govern the design: proportionality to Bermuda’s economic scale, a focus on harmful conduct rather than market position itself, priority attention to seven essential sectors, and transparency through the publication of key regulatory decisions and findings.
The Government’s core objective is markets that work fairly for the consumers and businesses that depend on them. The framework would address anti-competitive harm that adds avoidable pressure to the cost of living, while recognising the realities of operating in a small island economy.”6
The month-long process includes a consultative policy document titled Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda. We will consider the proposed Competition Act 2026 as summarised in this policy document in a subsequent article. That said, the focus on harmful conduct rather than market dominance clearly signals that the government does not seek to unwind existing quasi-monopolies through legal mechanisms such as divestiture (what the Americans colourfully term “trust busting”) and instead intends to monitor and regulate anti-competitive behaviour like predatory pricing, artificial supply restriction, price fixing, bid rigging, blocking new competitors from entering the market, and collusion. Whether the government’s emphasis on harmful conduct rather than market position will result in the new competition regime effectively tackling future consolidations remains to be seen.
Footntotes
1 Her Excellency the Governor Rena Lalgie, Speech from the Throne (Convening of the Legislature, Hamilton, Bermuda, 8 November 2024) at page 14.
2 Ministry of Home Affairs, Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda: Consultative Policy Document (August 2026) at pages 3, 7, 14-15 and 17.
3 His Excellency the Governor Andrew Murdoch, Speech from the Throne (Convening of the Legislature, Hamilton, Bermuda, 14 March 2025) at pages 1-2. The renaming of the Regulatory Authority was switched from the Regulation & Competition Authority as announced in March 2025 to the Competition and Regulatory Authority (CRA) in Ministry of Home Affairs, Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda, supra at pages 3 and 14.
4 Government of Bermuda Citizens Forum, Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda (Government of Bermuda website, August 2026). The consultation process commenced on 14 August 2026 with a 15 September 2026 deadline for submissions.
5 Ministry of Home Affairs, Promoting Competition and Market Fairness in Bermuda, supra at pages 2, 7 and 12-19.
6 Hon. Alexa N. H. Lightbourne, JP, MP, Ministry of Home Affairs Engages Stakeholders on Bermuda's Competition Policy (Press release, 14 August 2026).
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