Office of Fair Trading

Office of Fair Trading
Welsh: Swyddfa Fasnachu Teg

Non-ministerial government department overview
Formed	21 September 1973; 50 years ago (1973-09-21)
Dissolved	1 April 2014
Superseding agency	Competition and Markets Authority
Jurisdiction	United Kingdom
Headquarters	Fleetbank House, 2–6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX
Employees	579
Annual budget	£55.843 million (2012–2013)
Non-ministerial government department executive	Clive Maxwell, Chief Executive
Website	oft.gov.uk

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic regulator. The intention was for the OFT to make markets work well for consumers, ensuring vigorous competition between fair-dealing businesses and prohibiting unfair practices such as rogue trading, scams, and cartels. Its role was modified and its powers changed by the Enterprise Act 2002.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced reforms to the consumer protection and competition regimes. Under the provisions of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was established on 1 April 2014, combining many of the functions of the OFT and the Competition Commission and superseding both.^[1]

Regulation of the consumer credit sector passed from the OFT to the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from April 2014.^[2]