Competition Commission consults on proposed changes to calculation of penalties

THE Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) is seeking feedback on further proposed changes to its penalty and enforcement guidelines, it said on Wednesday.

According to CCS, it had received feedback during its public consultation in 2015 that it should calculate financial penalties based on the turnover for the financial year preceding the date "when the undertaking's participation in the infringement ended".

This is as opposed to CCS's current practice, which calculates the financial penalties based on the turnover for the financial year preceding the date "on which the decision of the CCS is taken".

"This would bring CCS's practices in line with the legal position in the European Union and the United Kingdom, on which our Competition Act is modelled after. CCS intends to adopt this method of penalty calculation, and is seeking further feedback on this proposal," it said.

In addition, CCS proposes to clarify in the enforcement guidelines that the proposed amount of financial penalty be set out in the proposed infringement decisions (PID), in order to permit addressees of the PID to make written and oral representations to CCS on "matters of liability as well as penalty".

CCS is also seeking feedback on incorporating this practice into the enforcement guidelines.

The closing date for the submission of feedback is July 8, 2016.