On 10 September 2020, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore ("CCCS") published its Public Consultation on Proposed Changes to Competition Guidelines, seeking feedback on its proposed amendments to six of the CCCS Guidelines.
The proposed changes will involve significant changes to the CCCS' longstanding merger review process, as well as the introduction of a new formal process for the consideration and acceptance of commitments. In addition, the CCCS has included substantial new guidance on its review of multi-sided markets (following its recently concluded market study on e-commerce platforms), and also on its approach to assessing competition issues arising from agreements/conduct relating to intellectual property rights.
These proposed changes will have an impact on the CCCS' application of the Competition Act going forward and consequently on how businesses should plan ahead in their dealings with the CCCS – in particular: (a) in the timelines for merger review and commitments; (b) businesses operating in multi-sided markets may need to assess whether they are dominant and hence risk infringing the Competition Act when taking certain commercial actions in the market; and (c) businesses which own and/or licence intellectual property rights should proactively assess their licensing practices to determine whether competition issues might arise.
This update looks at some of the key proposed amendments.
If you would like information or assistance on the above or any other area of law, you may wish to contact the Partner at WongPartnership whom you normally work with or any of the following Partners:
Ameera ASHRAF
Head – Antitrust & Competition
d +65 6416 8113
e ameera.ashraf@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Ameera’s CV.
CHAN Jia Hui
Partner – Antitrust & Competition
d +65 6416 2794
e jiahui.chan@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Jia Hui’s CV.
LAM Chung Nian
Head – Intellectual Property, Technology and Data Group
d +65 6416 8271
e chungnian.lam@wongpartnership.com
Click here to see Chung Nian’s CV.