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ONLINE INTERMEDIATION PLATFORM MARKET INQUIRY UPDATE
- 30 June 2023
- Trade, Industry & Competition
- SA Legal Academy
Please note: On 28 July 2023, the Competition Commission gazetted a notice confirming that its final report on the market inquiry, with recommendations, will be published on 31 July 2023.
The Competition Commission has been granted another month to complete its market inquiry into online intermediation platforms, extending the deadline for the third time this year – to 31 July 2023.
As SA Legal Academy has already reported, the inquiry has focused on online services:
- intermediating transactions between business users and consumers, and
- generating transaction leads.
These services include those provided by foreign-based platforms with an economic impact in South Africa, even if they do not have a physical presence in the country.
The latest extension was gazetted on 30 June 2023, when the previous one lapsed. According to a media statement released the same day, ‘section 43B(4)(b) of the Competition Act, 1998 (as amended)’ allows the Commission ‘a reasonable period to further consider’ its final report on a market inquiry – including proposed remedial actions and other recommendations – before publishing it.
The sub-section to which the statement refers was inserted by section 24 of the Competition Amendment Act, 2018, came into force in July 2019 and provides that:
- the timeframe within which an inquiry is ‘expected to be completed … may not exceed 18 months’, although
- the Commission ‘may apply to the Minister to extend (it) ... for a reasonable period’.
The announcement of two more month-long extensions since one granted in April 2023 tends to point to a certain amount of disagreement on what is understood to be ‘reasonable’. Given how few inquiries are concluded within 18 months, perhaps the timeframe itself should be reviewed?
- Government Gazette notice
- media statement
- 2018 amendment Act (page 30 refers)
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch