KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) is proposing a slap of RM86.7 million fine on Grab Inc for collectively breaching the Competition Act 2010.
MyCC Chief Executive Officer Iskandar Ismail said it also proposed a daily penalty of RM15,000 against the e-hailing firm from today after it was found that Grab abused its dominant position by imposing some restrictive clauses on its drivers.
“We found Grab prevented its drivers from promoting and providing advertising services for Grab’s competitors in the e-hailing and transit media advertising market.
“MyCC proposed to impose a financial penalty of RM86,772,943.76 against Grab as well as a daily penalty of RM15,000 from the date of service of the proposed decision,” he said in a press conference at the MyCC headquarters here today.
Iskandar said the restrictive clauses had the effect of distorting competition in the relevant market that is premised on multi-sided platforms by creating barriers to entry and expansion for Grab’s existing and future competitors.
Under Section 10 of the Act, an enterprise is prohibited from engaging, whether independently or collectively, in any conduct which amounts to an abuse of a dominant position in any market for goods or services.
It was reported that MyCC would monitor Grab for possible anti-competitive behaviour after its acquisition of close rival Uber Technologies Inc’s Southeast Asian business in March last year.
However, Iskandar said the decision to fine Grab was not final as the company has 30 days to make a representation to the commission.
“Commission will then make its final decision under Section 39 or 40 of the Act after it has considered the said representation and all available information and evidence,” he added.
On a side note, Iskandar said the commission was planning to propose an amendment to the existing law to include new provisions on merger and acquisition.
“Malaysia or MyCC do not have merger power like Singapore and the Philippines.
“However, as an agency under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, any amendment or enhancement to the law will be from the ministry,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA