Singapore: Adopted Competition Act including anti-competitive agreements regulation

On 19 October 2004, the Singapore Parliament adopted the Competition Act, including provisions on anti-competitive agreements. The provisions on anti-competitive agreements are found in Section 34 of the Competition Act and prohibit agreements, decisions, or practices among businesses that aim to prevent, restrict, or distort competition, such as price-fixing, bid-rigging, market sharing, and controlling production or investment. The first four types of agreements, considered serious infringements and other agreements, are assessed individually for their competitive impact, while vertical agreements are excluded. The Act further stipulates that market share has to be assessed to determine breaches, with guidelines stating that agreements are unlikely to adversely affect competition if market shares are below specified thresholds or if the businesses involved are SMEs. Moreover, the Act introduced Block Exemptions Regulations (BER), which allow businesses exemptions from the competition provisions if they meet certain criteria.