Hong Kong’s Competition Tribunal has approved a settlement between the Competition Commission, two construction firms and an individual. The defendants admitted liability for price fixing and customer allocation at a public housing estate.
The case is noteworthy in two respects. It is the first case where the Competition Commission has brought proceedings against an individual.
The Tribunal’s decision is also the first case to be settled without a full hearing since the Competition Ordinance came into force in December 2015. The requests for settlement were examined according to the approach under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, or ‘Carecraft’ procedure. This dates from a time when Hong Kong was still under British rule. It allows for early resolution where the defendant agrees to a statement of facts and sanctions.
The case follows a similar one in May 2019 involving 10 decorator firms. It was a matter of speculation whether the Competition Commission’s success in that case might incentivise a settlement in near-identical facts.
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