The Executive Secretariat of the Competition Commission Brunei Darussalam (CCBD) underlined the importance of the law in promoting and protecting competition in the market to enhance economic efficiency and to uphold consumer welfare during an advocacy session on Chapter 253 of the Competition Act to a cement manufacturing company recently.
During the opening, the acting head of CCBD Executive Secretariat acknowledged the company’s effort in taking proactive steps to create awareness among the key employees in creating a competition compliance culture.
The law is intended to build a healthy competition culture among businesses, giving rise to the growth of the private sector and ultimately contributing to the achievement of Brunei Vision 2035.
The competitive pressure commonly incentivises businesses to strategise more cost-efficient ways of production, offering more attractive prices to consumers. Competition will also stimulate innovation among businesses, leading to more choices and higher quality goods and services offered to consumers.
Given the manifold advantages that ensue from a fair and healthy competition process, not only will the welfare of consumers, businesses including micro, small and medium enterprises, and government be significantly enhanced, it also allows local businesses to broaden their presence in the international market.
The Competition Act prohibits three anti-competitive business conducts- Section 11: Anti-Competitive Agreements, Section 21: Abuse of Dominant Position and Section 23: Anti-Competitive Mergers. Section 11 on Anti-Competitive Agreements, or cartels – has entered into force since January 2020, and prohibits businesses from engaging in written or oral agreements to fix price, share market, limit supply and rig bids, whether expressed or implied.
Businesses sharing commercially sensitive information such as profit margin, costs and future prices can also be caught under the act, even without agreements between the said businesses, as doing so may potentially facilitate business collusion.
The session discussed the second key prohibition of the act – abuse of dominant position.
The prohibition refers to businesses abusing a dominant position in a particular market.
It was highlighted that dominant businesses could help in achieving economic growth, but it should also act responsibly and refrain from doing any abusive conduct, including imposing predatory pricing to the disadvantage to its competitors, refusal to supply without any objective justification, and engaging in exclusive dealing, to drive out competitors in the market.
The session ended with an interactive dialogue and quiz.
