Business must judge if breaking new laws

Business giants hoping for a clear figure to gauge which actions could put them in breach of competition rules are set to be disappointed by the guidelines.

The Competition Commission, in charge of investigating anti-competitive behaviour and bringing cases before the Competition Tribunal, is about to release the draft guidelines on how it will interpret the Competition Ordinance - a start date for which will be announced next year.

The regulations include the second conduct rule, which prohibits companies from abusing their power to prevent, restrict or distort competition. The big question is at what point will they be deemed to have grabbed too big a share of the market.

The Competition Commission's chairwoman, Anna Wu Hung-yuk, has said it won't be putting a figure on it.

In June 2012, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung suggested companies that controlled less than 25 per cent of the market would be unlikely to prevent competition. At 40 per cent, the share of market power would be deemed substantial.

Wu said that the minister had not been drawing a line at 25 per cent. "Instead it was a broad indication that undertakings with a market share below 25 per cent would be unlikely to have market power. He was not saying that undertakings above 25 per cent would necessarily have market power either," she stated.