The Disciplinary Board of the Competition Protection Authority issued a decision to impose a fine on a company specialized in distributing reinforced steel, almost 2 million dinars for carrying out practices harmful to competition in the local market.
The Al-Rai daily has learned from relevant sources that the Disciplinary Board of the CPA monitored the company’s violation of the rules and discovered the company had withheld reinforcing steel products which led to a scarcity of supply, and then this was offset by an increase in the price in high demand.
The sources indicated that the executive body of the agency submitted the company’s file to the Disciplinary Council, which concluded that the company had already violated the rules of competition to the extent that it necessitates the application of the law, which approves a fine of 7 percent of its total revenues for the previous fiscal year (1.75 million dinars), after the investigation proved the company was guilty.
The sources stated that the companies working in the field of iron were examined and tracked the pattern of prices, inventory and quantities that can be manufactured and distributed in sales outlets to verify whether or not there are practices harmful to competition or not at any stage of production and distribution.
It is noteworthy that the previous punitive decision of the CPA had fined the company 250,000 dinars for violating Article 34 regarding the protection of competition, which stipulates the need to submit the data requested from it in a timely manner, as the officials of the CPA stated at the time that the Disciplinary Board affiliated with it decided to fine the company about one percent of the total revenues achieved during the fiscal year (2020-2021).
The sources pointed out that in both cases, the iron company was referred to the disciplinary council after researching and studying what was raised about the prices of Kuwaiti reinforcing steel and the distributing companies stopping selling iron in the Kuwaiti market during the periods covered by the study.
The sources affirmed the continuation of the “protection of competition” efforts to monitor the markets to monitor practices harmful to competition and take legal measures in this regard, stressing that “it will not hesitate to take legal measures against the violating companies.”
The sources indicated that the objectives of the Competition Protection Authority are multiple and can be limited to the following:
— Freedom of competition, and the prevention of monopolistic practices in all their forms, which may affect the freedom to practice economic activity.
— Provide protection for dealers in the relevant market in order to achieve fairness and competitiveness.
— Freedom of choice for the consumer and pluralism of economic parties.
— Maintaining a competitive market structure.
— Educating the public about the provisions of the law and the principles of the free market in general.
— Work to ensure compliance with the law, regulations, decisions and relevant instructions.
It is noteworthy that the Disciplinary Board of the Competition Protection Authority exercises its powers in accordance with the provisions of the law of the agency, and it is composed of 5 members from outside the agency, 3 of whom are judges who are delegated from the Supreme Judicial Council, including the president, and two members with experience in economic and legal affairs.
