Delays to Hong Kong hearings on antitrust allegations damaging, Competition Commission chairman warns
- Long delays on hearings into suspected violations of competition law could damage ability to enforce the law and prolong uncertainty for those involved, watchdog says
- Commission chairman says large-scale international forum on competition law enforcement to be held in Hong next year
The head of Hong Kong’s Competition Commission has warned that long delays for suspected violations to be heard at a tribunal could damage the body’s ability to enforce the law and prolong uncertainty for people and companies involved in proceedings.
Samuel Chan Ka-yan, the commission’s chairman, on Sunday also revealed that it planned to organise a large-scale international forum at the end of next year to allow an exchange of experience among competition law enforcement personnel and experts from mainland China and overseas.
“The lengthy scheduling of hearings poses a challenge and even raises concerns, since it may impact the progress of law enforcement work, as well as leave involved companies and individuals in a state of uncertainty,” Chan said on a TV programme.
Chan said that, unlike the mainland and the European Union, which used an “administrative model”, Hong Kong favoured a “judicial model” for handling cases of suspected breaches of competition laws.
He explained the city’s system only gave the commission the power to gather evidence and present a case for adjudication to the Competition Tribunal.
“The timing of the judicial proceedings is not under the control of the Competition Commission,” Chan said.
He highlighted the case of a suspected cartel involved in the pricing of textbooks from March 2020, which will not be heard until April next year.
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Chan said the competition law enforcement forum was expected to involve leading academics and enforcement personnel from the city and abroad.
He added that, since the end of coronavirus restrictions, the commission had acted as a bridge between the mainland and overseas countries on competition regulation.
Chan singled out a summit meeting the commission held in August which had brought together more than 100 high-ranking competition law leaders and experts from 12 Asia-Pacific countries.
“We found this opportunity very meaningful and we hope we could do more in this regard in the future,” he said.
The Competition Commission has sparked 15 legal proceedings involving 48 undertakings and 24 individuals before the Competition Tribunal since the Competition Ordinance was fully implemented in December 2015.
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He added a recent case involving real estate firm Midland Holdings, one of the city’s two major players in the industry, and two of its subsidiaries, who were alleged to have conspired with rival Centaline Property to charge a minimum net commission rate of 2 per cent on some residential properties from January 1 this year, had not been settled.
But Chan said the commission was prepared to look at settlement proposals from the parties involved.
Centaline and its subsidiary Ricacorp Properties were granted leniency in exchange for “fully cooperating” with the investigation and “providing substantial assistance”.
