KPPU faces hurdles in curbing unfair business practices

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) said it had found difficulties in curbing unfair business practices here due to loopholes in existing regulations and the lack of support from the government.

In its year-end report, KPPU said that many government policies tended to protect unfair business practices instead of trying to prevent them.

KPPU was set up two years ago to promote fair competition in the business sector and prevent monopolistic practices.

One of the cases pointed out in the report is the government ruling on the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) business which has sparked controversy as the government has only allowed two "unknown" private companies to operate besides the state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom.

The regulation has drawn protests from the already established VoIP players that claim that the government granted the exclusive license to companies that have links with certain high-ranking government officials.

KPPU also expressed concern over the country's judicial system which had not displayed any goodwill to help promote fair business competition as shown in several court decisions which ruled in favor of unscrupulous businessmen.

Due to the various obstacles faced by the KPPU, it is requesting the involvement of the House of Representatives in 2003 to monitor all cases brought to the commission, until their court ruling.

Throughout this year, the commission has handled 65 cases, however, only nine cases have been brought to the stage of a conclusive court ruling.

Budget allocation from the government and the status of the commission, which is still in limbo, have also affected the performance of the commission.

The report said that due to the unclear status of the commission, all decision made, were actually not legally binding, which created loopholes during the prosecution.

The commission also called for a revision to Law No. 5/1999 on business competition so that recalcitrant businessmen could not take advantage of loopholes in the law during prosecution.