Legislation: Competition Amendment Bill races to NCOP

A ‘B’ version of the Competition Amendment Bill adopted yesterday by the National Assembly probably holds the record for being fast-tracked through the first leg of the parliamentary process, suggests Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.  Now before the NCOP, the Bill is underpinned by ‘broad agreements’ on ‘key concepts’ reached in the National Economic Development and Labour Council by government and its social partners, as Legalbrief Today has already reported. ‘We’ve taken a major, potentially very controversial piece of legislation and secured, through social dialogue, a significant understanding of what we seek to do and an acceptance that we’ve struck an effective balance between all … the imperatives,’ Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel told members of the National Assembly committee concerned during a recent briefing.

Tabled during the extended July parliamentary recess and largely processed by the committee during yet another constituency period last month (requiring special permission from the House), the Bill now amends section 8 of the Act (prohibited practices by dominant firms) to include avoiding purchasing or refusing to purchase goods or services from a small or medium business controlled or owned by historically disadvantaged persons. Amendments to section 9 of the Act (prohibiting price discrimination by dominant firms) reflect similar intentions. As Legalbrief Today has also reported, once in force the Bill will establish a committee tasked with determining whether ‘a merger involving a foreign acquiring firm’ is likely to have ‘an adverse effect on … (SA’s) national security interests’. 

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