Antitrust developments in South-east Asia: July to September 2022

22 November 2022

In addition to continued enforcement activity across the region, the third quarter of 2022 was characterised by notable decisions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The Indonesia Competition Commission initiated an investigation against a company for alleged abuse of dominance and discriminatory practices in the digital sector. The Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC”) issued decisions on merger transactions and anti-competitive conduct relating to, among others, the telecommunications and multimedia, agriculture and insurance sectors. MyCC also made inquiries with an e-commerce company in relation to public dissatisfaction against its delivery services, and to better understand the nature of the online marketplace platform and logistic industry. The Trade Competition Commission of Thailand (“TCCT”) issued various decisions relating to anti-competitive conduct and unfair restriction of business operations.

On the policy front, the Philippine Competition Commission (“PCC”) announced new provisional thresholds relating to the compulsory notification of mergers and acquisitions to PCC. TCCT issued clarifications relating to the interpretation of “domestic presence” which would require pre- or post-merger notifications to TCCT. MyCC proposed to renew the block exemption for vessel sharing agreements in respect of liner shipping services, and invited public and relevant stakeholders to participate in a public consultation.

Please click here for an overview of notable antitrust developments in South-east Asia during the period July to September 2022. To see if there has been any enforcement activity in your sector in the third quarter of 2022, please refer to the overview chart here.