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The use of long-term exclusive lease agreements by supermarkets in South Africa has been quite controversial over the last few years.  Unsurprisingly, the impact of long-term exclusive lease agreements on local competition was one of the six objectives to be investigated by the Grocery Retail Market Inquiry[1] (“GRMI”) which was established on 30 October 2015.

In the final report of the GRMI, which was published on 17 December 2019, it was recommended that the Competition Commission (“Commission”) must seek to secure voluntary compliance by the national supermarket chains of the recommendations made.  These recommendations included undertakings by supermarkets not to enforce exclusive provisions in certain instances, that new lease agreements may not contain exclusive provisions and that exclusive lease agreements must be phased out over a period of time.
Continue Reading Reflecting on the phasing out of long-term exclusive lease provisions in South Africa

The recent decision of the Constitutional Court in Competition Commission of South Africa v Pickford Removals SA (Pty) Limited may have a material effect on the future prosecution of prohibited practices – including cartel behavior and abuses of dominance.

The Pickford decision relates to the interpretation of section 67(1) of the South African Competition Act as it stood before it was amended by the Competition Amendment Act, 2018.  The section said:

“…a complaint in respect of a prohibited practice may not be initiated more than three years after the practice has ceased”

The main finding of the Constitutional Court was that section 67(1) of the Competition Act does not constitute a prescription provision, but a procedural time-bar provision, which in the event of non-compliance can be condoned.  The effect is essentially that a prohibited practice complaint does not necessarily lapse three years after a prohibited practice has ceased.

In its finding, the Constitutional Court set aside an order of the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) and the matter was remitted to the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) for further hearing.
Continue Reading Widening the net – the Constitutional Court’s softening of the time-bar defence under South African competition law

On 13 February 2020, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (South Africa) brought the long-awaited buyer-power and price discrimination provisions into effect. These provisions were introduced through a suite of amendments made to the Competition Act (the “Act”) in early 2019. They may be summarized as follows:

  • the price discrimination provisions prohibit dominant sellers

…

The South African Grocery Retail Market Inquiry (“Inquiry”) published its preliminary report on May 29, 2019 (“Preliminary Report”).

The broad finding of the Inquiry is that there is a combination of features in the South African grocery retail sector that may prevent, distort or restrict competition.

For an overview of the key preliminary findings of…

The South African Competition Commission has since the beginning of 2017 prohibited eleven intermediate mergers and has recommended that four large mergers be prohibited.  This number is substantially higher than 2016, when the Commission prohibited three intermediate mergers and recommended that one large merger be prohibited.  For the period end of September to October 2017, the Commission prohibited five mergers.

This note will briefly look at two important and interesting trends that followed from the prohibitions of proposed mergers in South Africa since the beginning of 2017.

A move to take “coordinated effects” of the proposed merger into account

The first trend in the prohibition of mergers is a move to look at the “coordinated effects” of a proposed merger (a change in the market structure which better facilitates tacit collusion). In this regard the Commission adopted a policy favouring less concentration in markets and looking at a history of collusion in the market.Continue Reading A significant increase in the prohibition of mergers in South Africa

(The full version of this bulletin was originally published on Fasken.com – “The Competition Commission’s Market Inquiry into Data Services” – September 12th, 2017.)

On 18 September 2017, the Competition Commission is expected to commence a market inquiry into data services in South Africa. This is the sixth market inquiry to…

On 7 June 2017 the Competition Commission South Africa will commence a market inquiry into the public passenger transport sector. This is the fifth market inquiry to be initiated by the Commission, following inquiries into the LPG, healthcare, grocery retail and banking sectors.

What does the Commission intend to investigate?

In terms of the Terms…