In July 2023, the South African Competition Commission published its final report and decision in relation to its long-ongoing online intermediation platforms market inquiry. This is the first market inquiry to be completed following substantial amendments to the market inquiry provisions of the Competition Act which were aimed at increasing the Commission’s powers when conducting
In May 2023, the Department of Trade Industry and Competition (in consultation with the Competition Commission) published Regulations to exempt certain categories of agreements or practices by energy users (Energy User Block Exemption)and energy suppliers (Energy Suppliers Block Exemption) from the application of certain provisions of the Competition Act (Block
This blog was co-written by Josh Da Costa, Candidate Attorney
How much is too much? How long is a piece of string? How much information can I share with my competitors, and in how much detail? What do the Competition Authorities have to say on the matter in South Africa? The 2022 Guidelines provide some
As South African businesses suffer the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown, small businesses can apply for debt relief from most of the major South African banks and several state programmes.
The Department of Small Business has announced multiple interventions to assist small businesses. In addition to tax subsidies and incentives for compliant
In March 2019, the Competition Commission published its latest guidelines for the determination of administrative penalties for failure to notify mergers and implementation of mergers contrary to the Competition Act 1998.
The highest penalty to date for a failure to notify is R10 million. The methodology in the Guidelines could result in much higher figures
The Competition Amendment Act was signed into law on 13 February 2019. The Act’s aim is to ‘open up new opportunities for many South Africans to enter various sectors of the economy and compete on an equal footing’. This sentiment is the spirit throughout the Act and the draft regulations that are undergoing an extensive
The Competition Amendment Bill of 2018 introduces harsher penalty provisions which increase the enforcement powers of the competition authorities for purposes of deterring anti-competitive conduct.
Removal of the ‘yellow card’
Currently, the Competition Act only allows for administrative penalties to be imposed in relation to certain prohibited practices if the conduct has been repeated by
The overriding intention of the Competition Amendment Bill of 2018, introduced in parliament on 12 July 2018, is to address perceived high levels of concentration and the skewed ownership profile of the South African economy. The competition authorities have consistently expressed concerns about the large number of dominant firms operating in the economy which
The August 2016 first-of-its-kind judgment against South African Airways in favour of Nationwide Airlines, for damages arising from conduct that was held to be an anti-competitive exclusionary act preventing Nationwide from entering into or expanding within the travel market, raises the interesting question whether the loss is insurable by the company and the directors.