The Competition Act allows a firm to apply for exemption from the Act in relation to an agreement or practice that would, otherwise contravene the Act.

Anticompetitive conduct may be exempted from the application of the Competition Act when:

it is necessary to achieve specified sociopolitical objectives;
it is related to the exercise of certain intellectual property rights.

Featured news Increase in merger thresholds
The Minister of Trade and Industry has issued Government Notices 215/2009 and 216/2009 containing:

1. A new determination of merger thresholds and method of calculation.

2. A new fee structure for the filing of a merger notice.

In terms of the new thresholds a merger will be notifiable as an intermediate merger if the turnover and/or asset value of the target firm is at least R80 million (currently R30 million), and the combined assets and/or turnover of the acquiring and target firms meets or exceeds R560 million (currently R200 million).

Featured office: Durban
Inquiry: +27 (0) 31 265 1532

Featured person:
Apostolidis, Alexis
Partner: Patent Litigation - Head : Competition Law Group
Patent Attorney
Tel: +27 (0) 12 432 6202

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The firm practises directly in several Southern African countries and through long-established associates in others.