GUIDELINE ON MEDICAL FEES : Apply to CCS for guidance

I refer to Wednesday's article, 'Medical care is not a commodity'. It stated that the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) abandoned the Guidelines on Fees ('GOF') because it was encouraged to believe the GOF might contravene the Competition Act.

The SMA, on its own accord, withdrew the GOF in April, last year. We understand this was after SMA had consulted its legal advisers on whether the GOF would likely contravene the Competition Act.

As the administrator of the Competition Act, the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) would like to remind companies or associations to consider applying to CCS for guidance on whether any agreement or conduct is likely to infringe the Competition Act. This will allow CCS to initiate a study of the agreement or conduct in the light of industry and market conditions before it can specifically conclude whether any practice is anti-competitive and not beneficial economically. This application for guidance is not complicated and typically costs $3,000 to cover part of the costs that will be incurred by CCS. SMA did not apply to CCS for any guidance with regard to its GOF.

As a general observation, price recommendations by industry bodies are regarded by competition agencies in most countries as harmful to competition because they may lead to price fixing or clustering of prices around the recommended levels.

Despite this general stance, CCS would like to emphasise that its ruling is always on a case-by-case basis as is the practice of other competition authorities. It therefore urges companies and associations wishing to seek its ruling on any conduct to approach CCS to initiate a study into the specific circumstances of each case and consider all the relevant factors before making our assessment.

In this context, CCS is willing to study any proposal SMA may wish to make in connection with fees. CCS can make a ruling on any fee guidelines only after a proper study of the exact nature and implementation of the guidelines, the market and industry conditions. The objective of this study is to establish whether any proposed guidelines are, on an overall basis, beneficial economically.

For queries, please contact 1800 3258282.