Singapore’s political and economic system is based on the premise of well-functioning competitive markets. The country recognises the need to ensure that its markets operate in a fair and transparent manner. It has therefore enshrined strong laws to mandate that market participants do not engage in anti-competitive behaviour that can hurt consumers or other firms.
The Competition Act has three key prohibitions. These prohibitions are:
- Agreements, decisions and practices which prevent, restrict or distort competition ("the section 34 prohibition")
- Abuse of a dominant position ("the section 47 prohibition")
- Mergers and acquisitions that substantially lessen competition ("the section 54 prohibition")
Amendments to the Competition Act made by the Public Sector Governance Act (Act 5 of 2018) and the Enterprise Singapore Board Act (Act 10 of 2018) came into effect on 1 April 2018. The Competition Amendment Bill (Bill 8 of 2018) has also been taken into consideration and encapsulated in the Annotations