Tag: CFTC

Malawi Revamps its Antitrust Laws: Suspensory Merger Control and More

Posted on by Editor

Not only did the Malawian government revise its 26 year-old competition law, but it effectively repealed the old statutory regime under the “Competition and Fair Trading Act”, and it has now enacted its replacement, the so-called “Competition and Fair Trading Act of 2024.”

Says Andreas Stargard, who practices competition law with Primerio Intl., “the new regime had been in the works for several years, with input from the broader international and pan-African competition communities, both private and academic, as well as from fellow antitrust enforcers across the globe. We are pleased to see this revision effort come to fruition in the form of the CFTA 2024, which notably introduces a suspensory merger-control provision — meaning companies that meet the Malawian thresholds for notifying their M&A activity must put on hold the closing of their deal until it is cleared by the authority, the CFTC.”

Parties considering entering into transactions affecting the Malawian market should note, Stargard observes, that Malawi is part of the COMESA competition-law area, “which would require firms to consider whether or not there is a COMESA community dimension to their transaction, thereby possibly negating one or more domestic filings with [National Competition Authorities], and instead making a ‘one-stop-shop’ notification to the CCC.” Coincidentally, the COMESA Competition Commission is also headquartered in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, so “parties can expect there to be extensive collaboration between the supra-national CCC enforcement teams and the CFTC’s domestic-focussed antitrust lawyers,” Mr. Stargard surmises.

The in-depth text of the Malawian press release is as follows:

 ENTERING INTO FORCE OF THE NEW COMPETITION AND FAIR TRADING ACT 

You will recall that the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has been reviewing the Competition and Fair Trading Act (CFTA) of 1998 in order to fill the existing gaps and enhance its effective enforcement. The CFTC is pleased to announce that the process of repealing the CFTA of 1998 was completed and it has been replaced with a new legislation, the Competition and Fair Trading Act of 2024. 

The new legislation was passed by Parliament on 5th April, 2024, and was assented to by the State President, His Excellency, Dr Lazarus Chakwera on 19th May 2024. In accordance to Section 1 of CFTA of 2024, The new Act shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Minister, by notice published in the Gazette. The Competition and Fair Trading Act of 2024, therefore, comes into force today, 1st July, 2024, following the gazetting of the notice, signed by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Sosten Gwengwe, MP, which appoints this date. 

CFTC is extremely pleased with this development as it signals an end to some of the enforcement challenges the institution was facing with regard to the enforcement of the old Act due to the gaps in some of the key provisions in the law. In addition, the CFTA needed to be aligned with the recent developments in the enforcement of competition 

and consumer protection law, reflective of the current market dynamics in the economy. Furthermore, the CFTA required to be aligned with international best practices in the enforcement of competition and consumer protection. 

In order to address these gaps, there are several changes that have been made to the CFTA of 2024. Below is a highlight of some of the key changes: 

i. Competition Regulation 

The major change that has been brought in is on Suspensory Merger Notification. The 1998 CFTA provided for voluntary notification of mergers and acquisitions; which meant that mergers having potential harm to competition process and consumer welfare could be effected without seeking authorisation from the CFTC. The new CFTA has made notification of mergers and acquisitions mandatory, based on determined thresholds. 

The new Act has also expanded on the provisions on anticompetitive business practices, to make it very encompassing but also effective to regulate and enforce. These areas include: restrictive business practices; collusive conducts (cartels); abuse of market power; but also mergers and acquisitions. 

ii. Consumer Protection 

The CFTA of 1998 narrowly defined the term “Consumer”. The definition under the old Act left out some stakeholders that are equally affected by unfair trading practices, which include: consumers of technology, consumers of digital products, beneficiary consumers, but also other users of goods or services for purposes of production of other goods or services. For this reason, various vulnerable groups that did not fall within that narrow definition were not effectively protected from unfair trading practices 

The CFTA of 2024 has also brought in several types of unfair trading practices that were not included in the CFTA of 1998. Among others, these include the following: 

 failure to give warranty or guarantee on goods for long term use; 

 improper or insufficient labelling of products; 

 failure to disclose material information about the products supplied; 

 engaging in excessive or exploitative pricing of the products. 

 imposition and implementation of unfair terms in consumer contracts. 

iii. Abuse of Buyer Power 

The CFTC of 1998 focused on abuse of supplier (seller) power and not the abuse that may arise from powerful or dominant buyers. This made it difficult to deal with malpractices by buyers, including those involved in buying farm produce from farmers. 

The CFTA of 2024 has included various provisions to redress malpractices resulting from abuse of buyer power. The Act has expressly prohibited the powerful and dominant companies that purchase agriculture produce from the farmers not to engage in any anticompetitive and exploitative conducts. For example, the Act prohibits, among others, the following conducts: 

 delays in payment of suppliers, without justifiable reason, in breach of agreed terms of payment; 

 unilateral termination or threats of termination of a commercial relationship, without notice or on an unreasonably short notice period, and without an objectively justifiable reason; 

 refusal to receive or return any goods or part thereof without justifiable reason, in breach of the agreed contractual terms; 

 transfer of commercial risks meant to be borne by the buyer to the suppliers; 

 demands for preferential terms unfavourable to the suppliers; 

 demanding limitations on supplies to other buyers; 

 reducing prices by a small, but significant, amount where there is difficulty in substitutability of alternative buyers or reducing prices below competitive levels; or 

 bidding up prices of inputs by a buyer enterprise with the aim of excluding competitors from the market. 

iv. Penalties for Violations 

Under the CFTA of 1998, when the Commission found a business enterprise in breach, it had been imposing fines, which were provided for under Section 51. However, in 2023, in the matter of CFTC v Airtel Malawi Plc, the Court ruled that the said provision does not empower the CFTC to impose fines, on the grounds that the violations were designated as being criminal in nature. Specifically, under section 51 of the CFTA of 1998, the provision for imposing the fines was combined with sanctioning of an imprisonment sentence of up to 5 years. The ruling in the CFTC v Airtel Malawi Plc case, thus weakened the regulatory mandate of the CFTC. In addition, the 1998 CFTA did not provide for aggravating and mitigation factors for the Commission to consider in coming up with fines and/or orders. 

The CFTA of 2024 gives express powers to the CFTC to issue Administrative Orders, which include imposing fines on errant enterprises. Under the new Act, the fines to be imposed will be (i) up to 5% of annual turnover if it is an individual; or (ii) up to 10% of annual turnover if it is a company. The determination of the fines will depend on the applicable aggravating and mitigating factors. There are also various Orders that the CFTC can impose which are meant to redress the malpractices. These include orders to: give refunds, return or exchange defective products, withdraw false advertisements, supply the advertised/promised goods and services, and cancel unfair and exploitative contracts. 

v. Suitability and Independence of Commissioners for the CFTC 

As adjudicators of cases, the Commissioners of the CFTC are required to be sufficiently scrutinized for their qualification and suitability for their functions, but also guarantee utmost independence. Under the provisions of the CFTA of 1998, the Commissioners were not thoroughly subjected to scrutiny of Parliament once appointed, to determine their qualification and suitability for their office. Similarly, the Commissioners independence as adjudicators was not guaranteed under the old law. The CFTA of 2024 has provided that, as a way of ascertaining the Commissioners’ suitability and ensuring independence, their appointment and removal from office will be subjected to the scrutiny of the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament. 

In view of the foregoing, the CFTC would like to call upon business enterprises, consumers and the general public to take notice of the new legislation, and particularly take consideration of the provisions that have been brought into the CFTA of 2024. Furthermore, the CFTC would like to advise the business enterprises to adopt voluntary compliance with competition and fair trading laws at all times, so as not to be found in breach of the law. 

For media enquiries on this statement, contact Innocent Helema on 0880725075 or email innocent.helema@cftc.mw. 

LLOYDS VINCENT NKHOMA 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

Abusing antitrust enforcement for personal gain? Malawi’s Competition Agency Misled by Textbook Competitor

Posted on by Editor

textbooks

As it turns out, some savvy ‘entrepeneurs’ have been able to use competition-law enforcement on the African continent to their personal gain, namely by making misleading — if not outright false — accusations against their competitors, thereby triggering an antitrust investigation, and even causing this venerable publication to report on such.  We have been made aware by the initial “target” company (now, as it turns out, the actual “victim”) of the Malawi investigation that one of its competitors in the textbook market had essentially weaponized the CFTC’s investigative powers by launching direct and indirect accusations against Mallory International that triggered the probe.  In the end, the CFTC concluded that none of the purported cartel conduct actually occurred.

To be clear and to avoid any doubt: Mallory International was cleared of any misconduct allegation.  The Editor has reviewed conclusive evidence of the CFTC’s closure of this investigation in August of 2018.  “What remains to be seen is whether or not the agency might use its powers to pursue the perpetrators of this inherently anti-competitive attack of false accusations (which coincidentally also wasted government resources) any further,” says AAT Editor Andreas Stargard, pointing to the underlying nature of such false claims as “quintessential unfair competition that should neither enjoy immunity from prosecution nor escape government scrutiny.”

For background, in our original reporting on this case (entitled “CFTC Investigates Foreign Textbook Supplier in Cartel Probe“), we had written as follows:

In a potential first, Malawi’s Competition and Fair Trade Commission’s (CFTC) Chief Executive Officer, Ms Charlotte Malonda, recently announced that the CFTC is investigating a UK-based supplier of textbooks, Mallory International, for alleged cartel conduct.  Mallory had partnered up with a local company, Maneno Books Investments, as part of a joint venture, called “Mallory International JV Maneno Enterprise”.  In addition, other companies also being investigated include Jhango Publishers, South African based Pearson Education Africa, Dzuka Publishing Company and UK based Trade Wings International.  
The investigation follows complaints received by the Human Rights Consultative Committee as well as a number of its constituent civil society organisations and NGOs.  The allegations include price fixing and collusive tendering vis-à-vis tenders issued by the Malawian government for the supply of pupils’ text books.  [Editor’s Note: “Contrary to the statements in our original article, the actual complaint by HRCC and FND alleged neither price fixing nor collusive bidding. Its main allegation was that unjustified objections were made to contract awards in Malawi, and that attempts were made to dissuade publishers from issuing authorisation letters to particular bidders. Neither of these allegations was true, and no evidence to support either of them was ever produced. The complaint was dismissed by CFTC in August 2018.”]
The Nyasa Times quoted the CFTC head as confirming that the agency had “received a few complaints about allegations of a cartel and other procurement malpractices, hence our commencement of the investigations to get the bottom of the matter.”
Based on the language of Section 50 of the Act suggests that the sanctions for committing an offence in terms of the Act requires the imposition of both a penalty and a five year prison sentence. Although not aware of any case law which has previously interpreted this provision, the wording of the Act is particularly onerous, particularly in light of the per se nature of cartel conduct.
Section 33 of the Competition and Fair Trade Act prohibits collusive tendering and bid rigging per se. Furthermore, a contravention of section 33 is an offence in terms of the Act carries with it not only the imposition of an administrative penalty, which is the greater of the financial gain generated from the collusive conduct or K500 000, but also criminal sanctions, the maximum being a prison sentence of five years, notes Andreas Stargard, a competition attorney:
“The Malawian competition enforcer, under Ms. Malonda’s leadership, has shown significant growth both in terms of bench strength and actual enforcement activity since her involvement began in 2012.”
The Act is not clear what “financial gain” means in this instance and whether the penalty is based on the entire revenue generated by the firm for the specific tender (allegedly tainted by collusion) or whether it applies only to the profit generated from the project. Furthermore, it is unclear how this would apply to a co-cartelist who did not win the tender. The Act may be interpreted that the “losing bidder” is fined the minimum amount of K500 000 which equates to appox. USD 700 (a nominal amount) while the “winner” is penalised the value of the entire tender value (which would be overly prejudicial, particularly if turnover and not profit is used as the basis for financial gain).
Although the investigation has only recently commenced and no respondent has admitted to wrong doing nor has there been a finding of wrongdoing, this will be an important case to monitor to the extent that there is an adverse finding made by the CFTC. Unless the Malawian authorities adopt a pragmatic approach to sentencing offending parties, section 50 of the Act may significantly undermine foreign investment as a literal interpretation of the Act would render Malawi one of the most high risk jurisdictions in terms of potential sanctions from a competition law perspective.
It may also result in fewer firms wishing to partner up with local firms by way of joint ventures as JV’s are a particularly high risk form of collaboration between competitors if there is no clear guidance form the authorities as to how JV’s are likely to be treated from a competition law perspective.