Approaching CCCS for Leniency or Reward

Where your business is directly involved in competition infringements, your business should apply for leniency under our Leniency Programme. Leniency applicants are not eligible for a reward under the Reward Scheme.

The CCCS Guidelines on Lenient Treatment for Undertakings Coming Forward with Information on Cartel Activity 2016 contains information about how a business can apply for Leniency.

Where you have initiated or are directly involved in the infringing activities, you are not eligible for a reward unless your role in the infringing activities was merely peripheral. You are encouraged to contact CCCS to ascertain your eligibility for a reward.

To minimise liability, you should make a leniency application to CCCS as soon as possible. If you are first in line to apply for leniency, you may be eligible for either immunity or a reduction in financial penalties of up to 100%, depending on whether investigations have already commenced at the time that you come forward. However, CCCS must not already have sufficient evidence to establish the competition infringements by the cartel at the point when the application is made.

Leniency applicants who are not first in line to apply may be granted a reduction of up to only 50% of the amount of the financial penalties. It is therefore in your interest to apply as soon as possible.

The CCCS Guidelines on Lenient Treatment for Undertakings Coming Forward with Information on Cartel Activity 2016 contains more information.

Yes. As a leniency applicant, you must fulfil a standard set of requirements. For example, you must furnish CCCS with all available information and documents relating to the cartel activity, as well as render full, complete and continuous cooperation to CCCS until the conclusion of any action arising as a result of the investigation. You must unconditionally admit to the conduct for which leniency is sought and also refrain from further participation in the cartel from the time of disclosure to CCCS, unless otherwise directed by CCCS. You must also not have been the initiator of the cartel and not have taken steps to coerce other parties to participate in the cartel to be eligible for immunity or a reduction of up to 100% in financial penalties.

The CCCS Guidelines on Lenient Treatment for Undertakings Coming Forward with Information on Cartel Activity 2016 contains more information.

Your application will be deemed as having been made only after your identity is revealed and you furnish CCCS with either all the evidence available to you relating to the cartel, or at least a list of the evidence to be disclosed by you at a later point in time. It is therefore in your interest to satisfy these requirements as soon as possible, since the degree of leniency for which you may be eligible will depend on whether your leniency application was the first one to be made.

There are several ways of contacting CCCS when making a leniency application. You can contact CCCS either by using our online form, by email, by telephone or in person.

Online Form

The online form is a convenient way for you to make a leniency application. However, our online forms do not support attachments. If you wish to submit supporting documents, we recommend that you email to us. 

Email

If you have supporting documents, download the CCCS's Leniency Application Form, and email the completed form together with the supporting documents to cccs_leniency@cccs.gov.sg.

By telephone or in Person

You can also speak to our officers by telephone or arrange to meet in person. Call our hotline on 1800- 325 8282 to set up an appointment, and ask to speak to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal,Enforcement & Consumer Protection) or the Directors of the Legal and Enforcement Divisions with regard to leniency matters.

You can also approach CCCS through a law firm, who can speak to CCCS on your behalf.

CCCS will endeavour, to the extent consistent with its obligations to disclose or exchange information, to keep your identity confidential throughout the course of our investigations, until CCCS issues a written notice under section 68(1) of its intention to make a decision that the section 34 prohibition has been infringed.

To contact us, call the CCCS hotline at 1800-325 8282. Once it has been ascertained that you wish to remain anonymous or are a genuine reward seeker, your call will be forwarded to our specially trained officers from the Intelligence Unit.

When should I contact CCCS?

You should contact CCCS as early as possible because:

• We can discuss with you what information is most useful to us;

• We can advise on how to reduce the risks in obtaining the information; and

• Old information relating to competition infringements is likely to be less reliable.

That said, you should contact CCCS only if you have direct or, at the very least, indirect access to inside information surrounding the competition infringements. Hearsay information e.g. an overheard conversation from unknown third parties is unlikely to be useful to CCCS.

Do note also that where the subject matter of the complaint and/or information provided is already under investigation by CCCS, no rewards will be paid out.

CCCS undertakes to keep strictly confidential your identity and any information that may lead to your identification.

As a reward seeker, you are afforded an additional layer of protection which ensures that only core CCCS personnel will know your identity. Be assured that strictest procedures are in place to safeguard your identity and personal information. For this reason, our specially trained officers from the Intelligence Unit will deal with you. The process of giving information will, as far as possible, be facilitated by an assigned officer from our Intelligence Unit.

The reward will be paid out after the issuance of an Infringement Decision. The amount of reward is capped at S$120,000 and the actual amount paid out is determined at the sole discretion of CCCS. CCCS may also reject offers of information without giving reasons for doing so.

It is important to understand that CCCS is unable calculate up-front the amount of reward you will receive because CCCS can only assess the value of the information given just before the issuance of the Infringement Decision.