While the effects of Hong Kong's proposed competition law on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) appear to weigh heavily on legislators' minds, it's essential that the interests of consumers will also be prominent in the debate.
SMEs are undeniably important to Hong Kong's economy and way of life. But they are not the only stakeholders affected by competition law. Competitive goods and services markets provide innovation, high product quality, low prices and broad consumer choice.
Yet, so far, consumers' interests seem to have been commanding less attention in debates than small businesses' interests. The minutes of the first 17 meetings of the bills committee considering the Competition Bill indicate that small businesses or family businesses have been mentioned more than twice as often as consumers and households.
SMEs normally are a vital source of competition, but in some circumstances they behave anti-competitively. Some firms will have to change some practices, for which they should be able to count on the assistance of the new Competition Commission that will be tasked with promoting public understanding of the new law.
Additional measures to protect the interests of SMEs might yet be proposed by the government.
In Australia, for example, a mechanism introduced in 2007 allows small businesses to gain immunity from cartel liability for certain 'collective bargaining' arrangements, by voluntarily providing notification of the arrangement to the commission.