CompetENS : An Introduction
Why does competition law matter?
Look at the size of some of the significant competition law penalties: |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Commission v Toyota South Africa Motors | R12 million |
| 2005 | Commission v South African Airways | R15 million |
| 2006 | Commission v South African Airways | R45 million |
| 2006 | Commission v South African Airways, SA Express Airways | R20 million |
| 2007 | Commission v Mittal Steel South Africa and others | R693 million |
| 2007 | Commission v Tiger Consumer Brands | R98 million |
| 2007 | Commission v Food Corp | R45.4 million |
| 2008 | Commission v Adcock Ingram Critical Care and Tiger Brands | R53.5 million |
| 2008 | Commission v New Reclamation Group | R146 million |
| 2009 | Commission v Sasol Chemical Industries | R1 billion |
| 2010 | Commission v Pioneer Foods | R1 billion |
| 2011 | Commission v Aveng (Africa) t/a Steeledale | R128.9 million |
| 2012 | Commission v Singapore Airlines | R25.1 million |
| 2012 | Commission v Lafarge Industries South Africa | R148.7 million |
| 2012 | Commission v South African Airways | R18.8 million |
| 2012 | Commission v Telkom SA | R449 million |
| 2013 | Commission v 15 construction companies | R1.5 billion |
| 2014 | Commission v B & E International (Pty) Ltd | R8 158 447 |
| 2014 | Commission v British Airways PLC | R21 765 297 |
| 2014 | Commission v ATC (Pty) Ltd | R80 737 050 |
| 2014 | Commission v Cargolux International SA | US$ 941 561 |
| 2014 | Commission v Columbus Stainless (Pty) Ltd | R32 576 835 |
| 2015 | Commission v SA Metal Group (Pty) Ltd | R22 340 000 |
| 2015 | Commission v Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS | R95 696 529 |
| 2015 | Commission v Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaish | R103 977 927 |
| 2015 | Commission v Copper Tubing Africa (Pty) Ltd | R8 000 000 |
| 2015 | Commission v Murray and Roberts Ltd | R64 141 798 |
| 2015 | Commission v Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA | R8 813 227 |
| 2016 | Commission v Life Healthcare Group (Pty) Ltd; Joint Medical Holdings Ltd | R10 000 000 |
| 2016 | Commission v Eukor Car Carriers Inc | R15 288 976 |
More than R5 billion in total!
That’s why it matters!
Competition law is designed to:
- Increase consumer choice
- Decrease price
Companies are required to capture market share and generate margins through innovation, value add to customers, enhanced services and vigorous competition and not through:
- Co-ordination with competitors;
- Arrangements with suppliers which prevent competition by others;
- Customer interaction which excludes other competitors; and
- Abuse of market power and/or market dominance.
Innovation, cost reduction, enhanced services and other value-adds can achieve increased profitability in a lawful competitive manner.
Benefits of Compliance |
High cost of non-compliance |
|---|---|
| Doing business ethically | Reputational damage |
| Reputational advantages | Prosecutions |
| No prosecutions | Penalties |
| No fines | Management time and effort in dealing with investigations and/or prosecutions |
| Agreements struck down | |
| Claims for damages by third parties |
This programme will provide an introduction to:
- Cartels
- Minimum resale price maintenance; and
- Document creation.
There will be a quiz at the end of some of the modules to evaluate what you have learned
Course Modules to Complete
Cartels
There are 3 categories of cartel offences :
- Price fixing and fixing trading terms;
- Dividing markets; and
- Bid rigging
Minimum Resale Price Maintenance
Vertical Price Fixing is an agreement between producers and retailers to maintain the producers' recommended retail price
Start Course ModuleDocument Creation
E-mails and other forms of electronic communication have resulted in far quicker, less considered communication. These seemingly innocuous communications often result in high penalties, so we have prepares some tips regarding what to avoid.
Start Course Module
Confident you know the content? Take the exam.