As part of a series of Competition Order Business Dialogues, the Competition Commission Brunei Darussalam today held a dialogue session with vendors of the Ministry of Education to create awareness and encourage compliance with the Competition Order, 2015. The dialogue emphasized that the Order exists to provide businesses equal opportunity to participate fairly in the national economy to benefit consumers with greater choices of goods and services at competitive prices and high quality.
The dialogue was attended by more than 60 vendors representing various sectors including bus transportation; canteen food supply; building maintenance; facility management; pest control; and garbage disposal. Also attending the session were procurement officers from the Ministry of Education to learn on bid rigging conducts that are prohibited under the Competition Order.
The Department of Competition and Consumer Affairs in the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) as the Executive Secretariat to the Competition Commission Brunei Darussalam explained the scope and key prohibitions of the Order, namely (i) Anti-competitive agreements or cartels; (ii) Abuse of dominant position; and (iii) Anticompetitive mergers.
The Executive Secretariat elaborated on the first key prohibition, anti-competitive agreements or cartels. These exist when businesses agree to act together instead of competing against one another, through agreement such as price fixing, market sharing, limiting supply and bid rigging (collusive tendering). Cartels can be formal or informal agreements reached through emails, instant messaging or oral conversation. Examples of prohibited conducts from regional countries were also drawn.
The participants were informed about the Commission’s powers under the Order to detect and investigate cartels, including to obtain information from businesses and to conduct market reviews. It was also shared that the Order contains a leniency provision, which offers immunity to a member of a cartel that first comes forward to give useful information and cooperate with the Commission. The Executive Secretariat further explained that the Commission may accept settlements, issue remedies and impose sanctions for breaches of the Order. Any party may appeal against the decision of the Commission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
The Executive Secretariat drew attention to the date of enforcement against cartels that will begin on 1 January 2020. To allow businesses to make necessary adjustments to agreements that may violate the Order, a transitional period of 6 months will start on 1 January 2020. The transitional period is only applicable to agreements entered prior to 1 June 2019, when the announcement on the enforcement date was made.
The remaining two prohibitions on the abuse of dominant position and anti-competitive mergers will be enforced at a later stage.
During the interactive session, several matters related to bid rigging, gentlemen’s understanding, dominant position, sub-contracting and joint tender were discussed. Leading the discussion were Acting Director to the Department of Competition and Consumer Affairs in JPKE, representing the Executive Secretariat to the Competition Commission, and Competition Advisor Dr Hassan Qaqaya, a former head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD, Senior Fellow in the University of Melbourne and a visiting academic to t he University of Oxford.
Addressing the participants, Dr Qaqaya highlighted that competition law aims to create opportunities and help businesses to grow and prosper, and ultimately contribute to consumer welfare and economic development.
The Guidelines on Competition for Businesses and FAQs on the Competition Order, published by the Competition Commission, were distributed to the participants.