On 21 October 2008 the National Assembly stamped its approval on the Competition Amendment Bill. This follows its adoption by the National Council of Provinces on 25 September 2008, with proposed amendments to personal liability and cartel activity clauses.
The Bill was implemented to strengthen the existing provisions of the Competition Act and covers the following aspects of competition:
- Market Inquiry – enables the Commission to play a more proactive role in investigating markets.
- Complex Monopolies -deal effectively with uncompetitive outcomes resulting from a multi-firm conduct that restricts or distorts competition to the detriment of consumers.
- Personal Liability – Directors or officers of firms will now be held criminally liable for their knowledge of the firm’s involvement in a cartel.
- Incorporation of Leniency Policy -a tool used to detect cartel activity by encouraging those involved in cartel activities to come forward and disclose information to the Competition Commission in return for immunity.
- Concurrent Jurisdiction – deals with inconsistencies arising from the Competition Act and the Electronic Communications Act in dealing with competition matters in regulated industries, in particular, in the telecommunications sector.
According to a Biz Community article, the Competition Amendment Bill will now be submitted to President Motlanthe for assent. This is good news for consumers because once the Bill has been implemented Competition Authorities will:
- have the power to effectively deal with uncompetitive practices
- play a more proactive role in investigating markets
- take measures to ensure market transparency.
An example of how this will benefit consumers is that companies will no longer be able to fix artificially high prices to the detriment of consumers. It also means that directors who cause their firms to engage in cartel activities will experience personal liability.
