OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 11.50am.
PROPOSED changes to the Competition Bill suggested by the Congress of South African Trade Unions and diamond conglomerate De Beers were rejected by the National Council of Provinces’ economic affairs committee on Monday.
Cosatu’s request that unions be represented in merger control proceedings was rejected by chief director of business regulations Alistair Ruiters on the grounds that this is already the intention of the bill.
De Beers argued that firms charged with anti-competitive behaviour should not have to shoulder the burden of proving otherwise, and that safeguards are needed to protect the divestiture process. De Beers also claimed the Competition Appeal Court’s final jurisdiction over competition matters is unconstitutional. It said the criminalisation of failing to comply with the Competition Tribunal’s orders should be replaced with a system of fines.
Ruiters said that in fact, proving competitiveness should not be difficult, that divestiture will be a last-ditch solution, and that the Competition Appeal Court will resemble the similarly specialist Labour Court.
The bill was passed without amendments.