By Guest Author, Simon M. Mutungi, Ph.D. Competition law first emerged in 19th century North America where it was known as antitrust law. Back then, large companies entered legal arrangements where they formed a trust that would hold and consolidate their property. They would then cooperate as a single group in various ways to maximize their profits at the expense of customers. To better understand the impact of such an arrangement, imagine you are a kid again back in kindergarten, preparing for a tag-of-war match and you have chosen the biggest and strongest colleagues as your teammates to co ..read more

By Gina Lodolo & Tyla Lee Coertzen On 24 January 2024, the COMESA Competition Commission (the “CCC”) issued a press release requesting comments to its proposed Draft Regulations (as amended in November 2023) (“Draft Regulations”). The Draft Regulations contemplate an over hall of many key features of the CCC’s current competition regime, which has been in place since 2014. The Draft Regulations, importantly, make provision for the CCC to act as a consumer protection agency as well as an antitrust enforcer. While the consumer protection provisions have also been significantly bolstered, thi ..read more

Competition Authority of Kenya emphasises the role of public interest in M&A reviews By Joshua Eveleigh On 05 January 2024, the Competition Authority of Kenya (“CAK”) approved Nava Apparels L.L.C-FZ acquisition of the assets of Mombasa Apparel (EPZ) and Ashton Apparel (EPZ) on the condition that Nava retains all of EPZ’s 7019 employees on terms that are no less favourable than their current terms of employment. Notably, post-transaction the merged entity would have an insignificant market share of only 3.83% in the market for the manufacture of clothing apparel for export. Accordingly, the ..read more

By Tyla Lee Coertzen and Sarah van den Barselaar Introduction In our previous update on this matter, we reported on the South African Competition Appeal Court (“CAC”)’s second hearing of the Forex case. On Monday, 8 January 2024, the CAC handed down its judgement of the appeals brought by several national and foreign banks (the “Respondents”) against an earlier decision handed down by the South African Competition Tribunal (the “Tribunal”). The CAC’s decision comes eight years after the South African Competition Commission (“Commission”) commenced its investigation into various national and fo ..read more

AAT is sad (but not surprised) to report that the new Nigerian government under President Bola Tinubu has sacked the legendary head of its competition-law enforcer, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Babatunde Irukera. His termination is with immediate effect. His pro tempore replacement at the agency will be Dr. Adamu Ahmed Abdullahi, as the next-in-command Executive Commissioner of Operations. While it is certainly not a shocking revelation that incoming administrations frequently shake up their senior agency leadership, it is nonetheless an objective loss to ..read more

British American Tobacco faces $110 million fine for abuse of dominance in Nigeria, after settlement with up-and-coming antitrust enforcement agency By Nicola Taljaard and Nicole Araujo  About three years ago, in the summer of 2020, British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited and associated companies (collectively “BAT”) became the subject of an investigation by Nigeria’s then-brand-new Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“FCCPC”). The FCCPC was looking into the potential violation of the Federal Competition ..read more

By Gina Lodolo In a move towards ensuring fair competition in Morocco’s fuel market, the Morocco Competition Council (“MCC”) recently took decisive action. This decision followed amendments to the legal framework governing competition in Morocco, aligning it with Laws No. 40.21 and No. 41.21, which amended and supplemented Law No. 104.12 related to freedom of prices and competition, and Law No. 20.13, which pertains to the Competition Council, along with their implementing decrees and their entry into force. In this regard, in June 2023, the MCC initiated an investigation into potential practi ..read more

By Gina Lodolo and Nicola Taljaard Eight years after the South African Competition Commission (“Commission”) commenced its investigation into various national and foreign banks (“the Respondents”) in the Rand rigging case commonly referred to as the “Forex case”, the competition authorities continue to grapple with this complex case. While the Commission has continued to encourage the respondent banks to enter into settlement agreements with it, and several banks have done so, the case continues in respect of several Respondents.  Briefly, the Forex case pertains to an allegation of collu ..read more

South African Competition Commission releases its Statement of Issues in respect of the recently launched Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry By Tyla Lee Coertzen As we reported in a previous update (see here), the South African Competition Commission (“SACC”) announced and published its draft Terms of Reference (“ToR”) underlying the Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry (“MDPMI”), initiated in terms of section 43B(1)(a) of the South African Competition Act 89 of 1998 (as amended) (the “Act”). Following public comments and written submissions from relevant stakeholders, the SACC f ..read more

By Joshua Eveleigh On 29 September 2023, the Competition Authority of Kenya (“CAK”) announced that it will be conducting a market inquiry into the Kenyan animal feeds market (“Animal Feeds Market Inquiry”) to assess the various factors affecting competition in the animal feeds value chain. The animal feed market is particularly important due to its impact on the pricing of essential food items, such as chicken. In this respect, the recent Essential Food Price Monitoring Report published by the South African Competition Commission found: “The poultry industry is also the largest consumer of ani ..read more