South Africa: Trade Regulation & Practices

Competition authorities across Africa are intensifying enforcement through new merger thresholds, cartel investigations, and market studies targeting sectors from poultry to tourism. Recent developments include Egypt's expanded Competition Act penalties, Mauritius launching a cartel amnesty programme, and courts clarifying regulatory jurisdiction over financial institutions in Nigeria.

On 20 July 2012 the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) issued its reasons for the conditional approval of the intermediate merger between Synergy Income Fund Limited (Synergy) and Khuthala Alliance (Proprietary) Limited (Khuthala).

A case of alleged abuse of dominance recently came before the Competition Tribunal. South African Airways (SAA) stood accused of abusing its dominant position in one market (the market for air tickets sold through travel agents for domestic scheduled airline flights) to exclude competitors from a second market (the market of scheduled domestic airline flights).