23 October 2018
PARLIAMENT PASSES COMPETITON AMENDMENT BILL
The African National Congress (ANC) in Parliament applauds the passing of the Competition Amendment Bill 1B 23 — 20181, by the National Assembly (NA) today. This Amendment Bill, which was introduced in July 2018 as a prioritised Bill, seeks to amend the Competition Act of 1998, so as to introduce significant new measures to address the lack of economic inclusion of black South Africans and the transformation of sectors of the economy that are highly concentrated.
The Bill provides the Competition Commission with new powers to address economic concentration by initiating a market inquiry if it has reason to believe there are factors which impede, restrict or distort competition, or if requested by the Minister. The amendments provide for the right Of participation in a market inquiry to firms in a sector; trade unions; staff, officials and expert witnesses of the Commission, sector regulators and relevant Ministers.
The Competition Commission is also provided with the power to effect reasonable and practicable remedies to address adverse effect on competition, or to make recommendations to the Tribunal for divesture of assets. Affected firms will have a range of procedural rights that they can rely on to ensure that any remedies are appropriate and justifiable.
The Amendment Bill also introduces provisions to stop dominant firms from abusing market power on pricing. The Bill compels dominant firms to show that their prices are reasonable and that their pricing practices do not effectively exclude small-medium enterprises from participating in markets.