Government appointed antimonopoly body gets down to business
Government appointed antimonopoly body gets down to business
JAKARTA (JP): A government appointed antimonopoly commission
announced on Tuesday the launch of three investigations, as a
wide-ranging law on unfair business practices came into effect.
Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) member
Didiek J. Rachbini said after hearing public complaints it would
investigate possible monopolistic practices in retail chain
Indomart; American oil and gas company PT Caltex Pacific
Indonesia; and a foreign tempeh and tofu importer.
Indomart owner PT Indomarco has been accused of only selling
products from its parent company, the giant food producer
Indofood.
The complainants said Indomart shops could potentially kill
small traders located within 50 meters of one.
Caltex, which operates Indonesia's biggest oil field in Riau,
was accused of unfair business practices when awarding contracts
for a pipeline project.
The works were tendered as one package instead of several
projects, effectively disqualifying small contractors,
commission vice chairman Syamsul Maarif alleged.
The third case is based on a complaint from the Indonesian
Tofu and Tempeh Cooperative (Inkopti), which has accused a
foreign soybean company of practicing price discrimination to
undercut local producers.
The commission has set up a panel of three members for each of
the three cases, Syamsul said.
By regulation, the commission has 30 days from the time a
complaint is received to investigate and determine if there is a
valid case, if so, it must set up a panel. The panel has 60 days
to investigate, extendible up to 90 days, before it makes a
decision.
"The commission's decision is legally binding. They (companies
or individuals) can appeal to the Supreme Court if they are not
happy with it," Syamsul said.
The commission, formed by President Abdurrahman Wahid in June
in compliance with a 1999 law on antimonopoly and unfair
competition, has been assigned to monitor the implementation of
provisions of the new legislation.
The law was passed by the House of Representatives in February
l999 and signed into law by then president B.J. Habibie a month
later.
It forbids individual companies from controlling more than 50
percent of a domestic market, and two or three companies from
controlling a combined 75 percent of one.
It also forbids practices of oligopoly, monopsony, price
fixing, price discrimination, cartel, geographical designations
of markets by suppliers, resale price maintenance and collusion
in bidding.
A person or a company who is found guilty will face fines of
between Rp 1 billion (US$120,000) and Rp 100 billion and jail
terms of between three and six months.
The commission has eleven members. Bambang Purnomo, an advisor
to the minister of industry and trade, is its chairman.
Syamsul Maarif is a lawyer and consultant with the World Bank
in Jakarta while Didiek is an economist at the University of
Indonesia.
The commission's other members are Tadjudin Noersaid, Faisal
H. Basri, Nabiel Makarim, Moh. Iqbal, Pande Raja Silalahi, Soy
Martua Pardede, Erwin Syahril and Sutrisno Iwantono. (02)