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04
OVERVIEW
CCS ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016
CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S
MESSAGE
ENFORCING THE COMPETITION ACT AND
STRENGTHENING OUR CAPABILITIES
During the year in review, CCS pursued cases spanning a
wide range of industries including the food and beverage,
financial services, aviation and healthcare sectors.
In June 2015, Cordlife Group Limited removed various
exclusive agreements it hadwith baby fair organisers and
hospitals after CCS’s intervention. The removal of these
restrictions would allow competing cord blood banks to
access baby fairs and hospitals asmarketing channels in
agrowingprivatecordbloodbankmarket. InOctober 2015,
Singapore’s largest beer supplier, Asia Pacific Breweries
(Singapore) Pte Ltd, ended its outlet exclusivity practice
after CCS’s intervention. Many industry playerswelcomed
this as the ending of outlet exclusivity would open up the
beer industry for Small andMediumEnterprise players, in
which total retail sales inSingapore in2014wereestimated
to be S$2.28 billion.
In March 2016, CCS took 10 financial advisers to task
for pressurising a competitor, iFAST Financial Pte Ltd
(“iFAST”), towithdraw its novel offer of a 50%commission
rebate on competing life insurance products on the
Fundsupermart.comwebsite. The offerwas an innovative
one, but the collective conduct of the 10 financial advisers
in pressurising iFAST into withdrawing the offer, had
prevented the life insurance market from shifting to a
more competitive and innovative state.
Further to theASEANambition of a single aviationmarket
through the liberalisationof air travel inASEAN, theASEAN
aviation industry has enjoyedexponential growth in recent
years. This vibrant market has seen increased entry and
exit of airlines, new routes being created and alliances
and joint venture agreements among airlines, of which 18
have been notified to the CCS to date. In September 2015,
the strategic alliance agreement between Cebu Pacific
and Tigerair Singapore was cleared but only after the
parties agreed to lessen the level of cooperation following
competition concerns raised by the CCS on two routes
between Singapore and the Philippines.
The year 2015 saw the extension of the Competition
(Block Exemption for Liner Shipping Agreements) Order
(“BEO”) for another five years until 31 December 2020
after the Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) gave his
approval basedonCCS’smarket study of the industry. The
extension of the BEO will allow the connectivity of liner
shipping services in Singapore to provide a high degree
of connectivity and choice for Singapore’s importers and
exporters. Agreements between liners to share vessel
space will also increase the utilisation of space, enable
more frequent services and enhance competition with
larger liners.
ADVOCATING FAIR COMPETITION BY ENGAGING
OUR KEY STAKEHOLDERS
Duringtheyearinreview,CCSissuedatotalof28competition
advisories tootherpublicsector agencies throughstudying
and understanding the affected markets and the impact
of government policies on competition.
Inadvocating for pro-competition regulations toeffectively
balancepolicy objectivesandcompetition that benefit both
businesses and consumers, CCS proactively engages
government agencies tohelp themunderstandcompetition
issues and factor competition considerations into their
policymaking. ThePolicy andMarketsDivision is currently
reviewing theCompetition Impact Assessment framework
to help government agencies make policies that are
competition-friendly.