Highlight of The Proposed Competition Authority Draft Consolidated Administrative Remedies and Settlement Guidelines, 2023

Section 8 (2) of the Competition Act No 12 of 2010 grants the Competition Authority the power to regulate its internal procedures and conduct of business. In this regard, the Authority has proposed to introduce the Competition Authority Consolidate Administrative Remedies and Settlement Guidelines, 2023 to provide an overview on the remedies and guidelines with respect to settlement of violations under the Competition Act No 12 of 2010.

Settlement and settlement Procedures

These draft guidelines provide elaborate procedures for settlement of complaints. For instance, it recognizes key factors that determine the resolution of disputes such as mitigating factors, value of the good or services and whether the breach was inadvertent.

The guidelines lay out the following procedure for settlement of complaints between the Authority and the respective party:

• After all investigations have been conducted, a party may submit a settlement request to the Competition Authority.
• Thereafter, the Authority responds to the settlement request. If the Authority does not agree with the settlement request, negotiations must be held within 90 days with the sole purpose of reaching an amicable agreement.
• After the request has been approved, the party involved submits a settlement proposal to the Authority within fourteen days after the Authority’s consent. The Authority may then respond with a counter proposal within fourteen days of receipt of the settlement proposal.
• The Process that follows involves a negotiation meeting between the Authority and the respective party. The sole purpose of this meeting is to negotiate on the terms of settlement.
• Where the negotiations are successful the settlement must be executed by both parties and thereafter Gazetted.