            |
 |
 |
    |
Effective
and up-to-date competition policy is beneficial both to traders
and to consumers- Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu
Galea The Seminar, which was attended by representatives
from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey and Malta as a former
Mediterranean Partner focused on furthering and updating the knowledge
of those responsible of the current competition legislative framework. Minister Galea said that effective competition policy is beneficial both to traders and to consumers. “As Minister for competitiveness I certainly agree that genuine competition is the most effective way to induce companies to keep costs low, to be efficient and to innovate and hence to offer customers a good deal, the best product or service at the best price. The beneficiaries of effective competition are the traders themselves and the consumers”. The Minister added that competition law also promotes certain behavior which enhances economic efficiency. “Competition law promotes certain behavior on the market which is beneficial in terms of economic efficiency and which is beneficial for the consumer. This includes for instance, co-operation agreements between competitors on research and development. Moreover, I stress that competition law does not put any constraints on efficient undertakings which strive to maintain or increase their market share through legitimate strategies, such as by offering high quality or a better after-sales service or fair prices. I believe that Competition law has added legal certainty in the market place because it defines the parameters within which firms may lawfully conduct their business.” Minister Galea said. Speaking about the work carried out by the Consumer and Competition division in the past year, Minister Galea said that twelve decisions were delivered by the Office which included those concerning restrictive practices cases, negative clearances and clearance of concentrations. As a matter of fact, this Directorate was involved in investigations concerning anti-trust cases, concentrations (better known as mergers or acquisitions) notifications and consumer law infringement cases. This office also investigated a considerable number of cases which involved lengthy analysis both from the legal as well as the economic aspect. These investigations involved the tourism sector, maritime sector, supermarkets sector, the telecoms sector, and the beverage industry amongst others. A cease and desist order was issued in respect of a number of supermarkets ordering them to desist from what was considered to be a restrictive practice by the Office. Moreover the Office dealt with eight notifications concerning concentrations. One of these concentrations concerned a conglomerate merger by acquisition in the business solution market whilst the other seven were in respect of acquisitions in various sectors including the construction industry, food and beverages industry, and investment services. These concentrations were all cleared by the Office. Four cases were referred to the Commission for Fair Trading during the past year. The first case involved an alleged restrictive practice in the maritime sector, two others involved an appeal against the Office’s decision in the tourism and supermarkets sectors. A request for an interim measure in the telecoms sector was also submitted to the Commission and has been referred to the Office for its submissions thereon. As far as complaints related to consumer law infringements, the Office dealt with 16 cases which concerned mainly misleading advertising issues two of them were considered inadmissible in view of lack of jurisdiction. Speaking about the role of the Mediterranean region in the world, the Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea reminded the delegates that his year is the tenth anniversary of the establishment EuroMed partnership when foreign Ministers of the EU and their colleagues of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership agreed to establish a new Mediterranean area of peace, stability and prosperity. Furthermore the foreign Ministers of the EuroMed partnership have last November labeled 2005 as the year of the Mediterranean. “I therefore believe that given the Mediterranean’s enormous potential and its importance in international relations encourages Malta even more to continue implementing the necessary strategies to enhance its competitiveness and to contribute further in the stability and prosperity of the Mediterranean.” “With this in mind, sound competition policy is essential for this region to do business effectively where we must ensure that each competitor is competing on a level playing field in an environment which encourages entrepreneurship while safeguarding the basic rights of the consumer” added Minister Galea. |
The
updating of competition laws in Malta will continue with changes
in merger and acquisition laws in the coming months, Competitiveness
and Communications Minister Censu Galea said on Monday when addressing
a EuroMed seminar on competition policy.