Input sought on Competition Act amendments

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has embarked on an amendment exercise for the Competition Act 2010 and has launched an online consultation to invite the public and stakeholders to provide input.

MyCC chief executive officer Iskandar Ismail said in a statement yesterday the exercise has been in the works since 2019 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

“We hope this exercise will strengthen MyCC’s mandate in protecting competition in the market, with the appropriate investigation and enforcement tools.

“More significantly, MyCC will be empowered to review mergers that will substantially lessen or distort competition in the market. We are hopeful that the amendments would be passed in Parliament by the end of this year.”

He said Malaysia is currently the only country in Southeast Asia that does not have merger control provisions.

The amendment exercise was undertaken by MyCC to make Malaysia’s competition laws more extensive and in line with international practices, and for MyCC to effectively perform its statutory function to promote and protect the process of competition.

The amendment of the Act includes the amendment of provisions relating to investigation and enforcement powers and procedures as well as appeal provisions, taking into account developments in the digital economy, and the introduction of a merger control regime.

A soft copy of the proposed amendments is available on the MyCC website at https://www.mycc.gov.my/public-consultation and the Malaysia Productivity Corporation Unified Public Consultation (UPC) portal.

Any input may be submitted via email by May 27 to MyCC at amendment@mycc.gov.my or through the UPC portal.

MyCC will also hold two physical sessions for the same purpose, tentatively scheduled for June.