​1. More than 40 members of the French Brunei Business Association (FBBA) and ten
other companies from across sectors participated in the Competition Order
Business Dialogue this morning. Also present was His Excellency Mr Christian
Ramage, the French Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam.
2. The series of Competition Order Business Dialogue sessions was jointly organised
by the Competition Commission Brunei Darussalam (CCBD) and Darussalam
Enterprise (DARe), to raise competition law awareness among the business
community. The objective of the awareness session was to encourage business
compliance and reinforce Brunei Darussalam’s commitment in fostering
a healthy business environment to promote business opportunities and
growth.
3. The CCBD had announced in June 2019 that Brunei will enforce the Competition
Order against cartel or anticompetitive business conducts beginning 1 Jan 2020. A
six-month transitional period will begin from 1 Jan 2020. This transitional period is
to allow businesses to make adjustments to comply with the Order.
4. The Dialogue began with a presentation on the key features of the Order by the
Acting Director of the Department of Competition and Consumer Affairs in the
Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE ), as the Executive
Secretariat to the CCBD.
5. The presentation focused on the three key prohibitions of the Competition Order,
namely (i) Anti-competitive agreements (ii) Abuse of dominant position (iii) Anticompetitive mergers. Anti-competitive agreements, widely known as cartels, the
prohibition of which is covered under S. 11 of the Order, will be enforced against
by 1 Jan 2020.
6. Anti-competitive agreements are composed of four key illegal conducts. These
illegal conducts are (i) price fixing; (ii) bid rigging; (iii) market sharing; (iv) limiting
supply. Some real cases from the region were shared to illustrate such scenarios
of illegal conducts.
7. The participants were informed that besides having the power to investigate any
potential infringement, the Commission has the power to request for information
from businesses to conduct a market study in order to gain insights of the market
functions and explore causes of insufficient competition. It was noted to
participants that not all issues in the market can be resolved through the
competition law as some may require other policy measures to improve the market
competitiveness.
8. Following the presentation on the scope of the law, participants were engaged in
an interactive discussion on issues that may potentially raise competition
concerns. Also present in the dialogue session was Competition Advisor, Dr Hassan
Qaqaya, a former head of Competition and Consumer Policies in UNCTAD, with
more than 35 years experience in the area of trade and competition policies.
9. The Dialogue deliberated on matters related to government policies; parallel
imports; enforcement timeline; issue of mergers in a small economy,
recommended fees or tariff set by industry players.
10.During the discussion, Dr Qaqaya further emphasized on the importance of
effective enforcement of competition law to protect the competitive process in the
economic landscape and ensure business players are on a level playing field to
compete in a healthy business environment and not a victim of anti-competitive
practices.
11.The participants were distributed with Guidelines on Competition for Business and
FAQs on the Competition Order, published by the Competition Commission.
12.The Executive Secretariat of the CCBD applauded the FBBA in actively promoting
bilateral trade and business in Brunei, through organising talks and activities to
disseminate economic information. She also commended on the significant interest
demonstrated by the encouraging number of FBBA members in attendance and
their active participation in the Dialogue.
-------
Executive Secretariat to the Competition Commission of Brunei Darussalam
Department of Competition and Consumer Affairs
Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE)
Ministry of Finance and Economy
About Competition Commissi