KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9: The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) issued a proposed decision against seven tuition and day care centres for infringing section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 (CA 2010) by collectively agreeing to fix and standardise the fees charged for tuition and day care services in the SS19 Subang Jaya area.
According to a press statement yesterday, the agreement to fix the fees was entered into in May 2017 and a notice to that effect was issued by the said parties.
“After taking into account the fact and circumstances of the case as well as relevant provisions of the Act and the Commission’s Guidelines on Financial Penalty, the Commission proposed to impose a financial penalty on all seven tuition and day care centres a collective sum of RM33,068.85 for the duration of the infringement but not more than 10 per cent of their worldwide turnover,” said MyCC.
The provisional decision requires also the said parties to immediately “Cease and Desist” from the act of price-fixing and to repudiate the price-fixing agreement with immediate effect and will be required to enrol and complete the Commission’s e-Learning course on Competition Compliance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) within one 1 month from issuance of the Proposed Decision.
Pursuant to section 36 of the Act, the Commission had provided detailed reasoning for arriving at its proposed decision so as to provide all seven tuition and day care centres with a fair opportunity to respond accordingly.
MyCC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Abu Samah Shabudin said, price-fixing is considered to be a very serious infringement under the CA 2010; and therefore the Commission will not hesitate to take swift and stern action against all enterprises whether big or small that are found to be engaged in such anti-competitive practice to serve as a clear message and deterrent to others from following suit.
Established in April 2011, MyCC is an independent body responsible for enforcing the Competition Act 2010, which was implemented to create healthy competition which would in turn stimulate productivity and innovation, thus creating wider choices of products for consumers with better quality and reasonable prices.
The Act applies to all commercial activities undertaken within and outside Malaysia that affect competition in the Malaysian market. It provides a regulatory framework including powers to investigate, adjudicate and impose penalties on the perpetrators of the competition laws.
For more information on the Act and MyCC’s activities, log on to www.mycc.gov.my. — Bernama
