Antitrust developments in South-east Asia: April to June 2022

6 September 2022

Antitrust developments in South-east Asia in the second quarter of 2022 were characterised by the following notable decisions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand:

• The Indonesia Competition Commission (“KPPU”) issued two sets of fines to parties for a delay in mandatory merger notifications, announced a comprehensive review of a proposed merger in the telecommunications sector, revoked the business licence of a company found to have engaged in an abuse of dominance, and announced its intention to conduct an audit of the crude palm oil plantation businesses. 
• The Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC”) imposed a financial penalty against eight companies for engaging in bid-rigging conduct. There was also activity by sectoral regulators in that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission required undertakings with respect to a proposed telecommunications merger, and the Malaysian Aviation Commission is reviewing two exemption applications in the aviation sector.
• The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore granted conditional approval of a proposed commercial cooperation in the aviation sector, and raised competition concerns on a proposed acquisition in the same sector. 
• In Thailand, the Trade Competition Commission of Thailand imposed a fine for a late merger notification, and in a separate instance, found that the business combination of three companies in the insurance broking industry resulted in a significant reduction in competition.

On the policy front, KPPU issued new regulations which revoked the temporary relaxation of KPPU’s enforcement of competition law and supervision of partnerships in relation to micro, small, and medium enterprises, and also met with the Japanese Embassy to agree on the acceleration of cooperation between the two institutions to monitor business competition in the digital market. MyCC proposed amendments to the Malaysian Competition Act 2010, and conducted a public consultation on proposed changes including a proposed mandatory merger notification regime.

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