The Philippines Shares Initiatives as Newly Established Competition Authority

Philippine Competition Commission Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan (fourth from left), shares the Philippines’ initiatives on challenges faced by young and small competitive authorities in designing a merger control regime during one of the Round Table Sessions at the Sixteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy in Geneva on July 06, 2017.

12 July 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — The Philippine Competition Commission shared its initiatives and efforts in addressing the challenges in designing a merger control regime, which is one of the main pillars of competition system, at the 16th Session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy last July 06 to 07.

“In a little more than one year of existence, the Philippine Competition Commission has learned several lessons and gleaned insights on how to provide businesses with more efficient service when it comes to merger control. Overall, the challenges relate to the infancy of the Philippines’ competition law regime,” pointed out by Chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan of the Philippine Competition Commission.

The Philippine Competition Act (Republic Act No. 10667) was signed into law in July 2015 while the Philippine Competition Commission was established in 2016.

He further underlined that the new agency needs to establish clear policies on the merger review procedures, rules on confidentiality, data protection and security, as well as, to conduct both case-specific and general consultations on the improvement of the merger review process.

To date, the PCC has received 109 notifications on mergers and acquisitions amounting to a total of P1.8 Trillion and has approved 88 transactions.    

The chairman further added the importance of continuously building the organizational capacity to ensure a relevant and effective merger control regime.

The Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy is a standing body established under the United Nations Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices that meets annually to discuss ways of improving worldwide cooperation on competition policy implementation and enhancing convergence through dialogue.

For more information, visit www.genevapm.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/genevapcg. END