House of Representatives. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — A bill seeking to end monopolies and promote fair competition has hurdled the committee level in the House of Representatives.
The House committees on trade and industry and appropriations approved the consolidated bill for a Philippine fair competition.
It is also one of the priority bills of Congress.
The main author of the bill, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said the bill seeks to encourage fair and free economic competition by prohibiting the abuse of market position as well as the concentration of economic power on select businesses.
He said the bill is timely for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Economic Community Blueprint which will be implemented in 2015.
The blueprint seeks to transform Asean into “a single market and production base, a highly competitive region of equitable and economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy.”
“As outlined in the AEC Blueprint, all Asean member states, including the Philippines, will endeavor to introduce competition policy by 2015,” Belmonte said.
The bill wants to create a Philippine Competition Commission under the Office of the President and implement the National Competition Policy.
The bill prohibits the following agreements among competitors:
- restricting competition as to price, or components thereof, or other terms of trade;
- setting, limiting, or controlling production, markets, technical development, or investment;
- dividing or sharing the market, whether by volume of sales or purchases, territory, type of goods or services, buyers or sellers or any other means;
- fixing price at an auction or in any form of bidding including cover bidding, bid suppression, bid rotation and market allocation and other analogous practices of bid manipulation; and
- applying dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other parties that places them at a competitive disadvantage
The bill also prohibits all unfair methods of competition and unfair deceptive trade or business practice which results in restricting competition.
Among the prohibited acts are the following:
- distribution of false or misleading information which is capable of harming the business interests of another entity;
- failure to disclose matters relevant to franchises and other business opportunities offered to consumers such as investment requirements, training, sales potential, and average earnings; and
- unauthorized use, or dissemination of confidential scientific or technical production, business or trade information
The bill imposes penalties on those who violate the proposed measure:
- P50,000 to P200,000 fine for failing or neglecting to comply with any term or condition of a binding ruling, a cease and desist order or an order for readjustment issued by the Commission;
- P5,000 to P100,000 fine for giving incorrect or misleading information to the Commission
The bill also imposes a five to 10-year imprisonment per violation on those who enter into any anti-competitive agreement or conduct.
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