The U.K.'s Competition Commission pressed ahead with its proposed clampdown on the payment protection insurance market Wednesday, setting out its plans to introduce competition into the market by October 2010, despite a legal challenge from Barclays PLC (BCS).

"Although the CC's decision and proposed measures have since been appealed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal by Barclays, the CC has started consultation on the detailed implementation of the changes to enable it to move quickly once the appeal is finalised," it said.

"Taking these steps now will help ensure there is no unnecessary delay in resolving the significant competition issues that we found in this market and in delivering a better outcome for consumers," said Peter Davis, the CC's deputy chairman.

The CC was scathing in its report into the market in January, concluding that lenders face little or no competition when selling PPI to their credit customers. Lenders make large profits selling payment protection insurance to customers taking out credit, to protect their payments in the event of sickness, unemployment or death.

The Competition Commission is proposing a number of measures including making lenders wait seven days after credit is taken out before they can contact a customer to offer the insurance.

Barclays launched an appeal against the findings in April, saying the point-of-sale ban was not justified by the evidence provided to the CC.

Interested parties have until Aug. 7 to submit their comments on the way the CC plans to implement its proposals.

-By Michael Carolan, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9278; michael.carolan@dowjones.com