Monday, May 30, 2011

Proposed antitrust law to level the playing field

"Level playing field"
The Business Mirror Editorial
Published 24 May 2011 in the Business Mirror
(Original article available online here)



"Up for deliberations by the Senate this week is a proposed antitrust law that its chief proponent, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, has promised “will bite; it has fangs.”
The need for such a law was emphasized by Enrile himself just a few weeks ago when he responded to a query if the recent megadeal between the leading telco firm and the third largest in the industry violated any law: “We have an anti-trust law in the Revised Penal Code, but it is a dead law. Without a law, there’s no crime committed.”
The Competition Act of 2011, of course, is anchored on solid ground, namely, the Constitution: “The State shall regulate or prohibit monopolies when the public interest so requires and that no combinations in restraint of trade or unfair competition shall be allowed.”
The Enrile bill enumerates three categories of unfair trade practices: cartelization; monopolization; and abuse of monopoly power, which includes predatory behavior toward competitors; price fixing, bid rigging, limitation and control of markets, market allocation, arrangements to share markets or sources of supply and price
discrimination.
Other unfair trade practices under the Enrile bill are the distribution of false or misleading information capable of harming the business interests of another firm, and the unauthorized receipt, use, or dissemination of confidential scientific, technical, production, business or trade information.
Perhaps, what Enrile meant by his bill definitely having “fangs” and not likely to be ignored is the provision on penalties for violations.
The proposed antitrust law, in fact, goes for the jugular, or rather, where it hurts most—the pockets—as it seeks to impose very stiff penalties on violators. Each and every violation shall be punishable by a fine of not less than P10 million but not exceeding P50 million, if a natural person; a fine of not less than P250 million but not exceeding P750 million if a firm; imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or both, at the discretion of the court.
Businessmen would definitely think twice about losing at the very least P10 million. How much more if the government demands P750 million for unfair trade practices?
Apart from expanding the coverage of unfair trade practices, the Enrile bill also seeks to strengthen the power of regulatory authorities to go after violators, with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as its chief enforcers. The DOJ and the DTI can, on their own, initiate preliminary inquiries to enforce the law upon filing of a verified complaint by an interested party.
Enrile is correct in pointing out that “the increased deviousness and complexity of schemes in perpetuating monopolies in the free-market landscape” requires “equally sophisticated legislation” that would protect the public from price manipulation and other unfair trade practices.
By strengthening the government’s hand in dealing with unfair trade practices, the antitrust bill paves the way to a level playing field in Philippine business.
The Senate should, therefore, pass the bill as soon as possible after proper consultations with all stakeholders.
The Competition Act of 2011 will benefit the entire economy because it will encourage fair play. Unfair trade practices, after all, stunt economic growth and discourage new investments.
It should be passed into law because, in the end, Big Business is not necessarily good business."

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