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•
Competition principles:
help public
officers understand the benefits
of competition whilst highlighting
the “costs” of compromising
market competition.
•
Government par ticipation in
markets:
discuss how common types
of government participation in markets
may affect the competition process. It
will alsohelppublic officersunderstand
how proposed policies or regulatory
initiatives may distort competition.
This in turn motivates them to conduct
competition impact assessments of
their proposedpoliciesor initiatives. The
followingcommon typesof government
participationinmarketsandtheirpotential
impact on competition are covered:
a)
government as a seller or supplier;
b)
public procurement;
c)
government regulation;
d)
government influence; and
e)
taxes and subsidies.
•
Case studies from local and/ or
overseas policy making contexts:
i l l u s t r a t e h ow c omp e t i t i o n
considerations have helped to
shape policies or initiatives, and
in some cases, improve outcomes.
Other cases illustrate how a
failure to consider the impact on
competition led to unintended
consequences which undermined
policy or regulatory intent.
•
Summary of the Competition Act,
CCS’s role, and avenues to obtaining
advice fromCCS:
help public officers
gain a general understanding of the
Competition Act, CCS’s government
advisory process and what it entails,
and CCS’s information requirements
for assessments. Through this,
public officers are able to better
understand CCS’s advisory process,
and thus more easily prepare the
types of information required by CCS
to conduct a thorough assessment.
Tohelpgovernment agenciesunderstand thepotential impact of theirpoliciesandactivities
onmarket competition, CCSpublishedaset of Competition Impact Assessment Guidelines
for Government Agencies (the “Guidelines”) in 2008. Since then, CCS has dealt with a
variety of issues throughgovernment advisories and competition lawenforcement cases.
In2015, CCScarriedout areviewtoensure that theGuidelinesarekept updatedandrelevant
to real applications in local and overseas contexts. As part of the review, CCS sought the
perspectives of over 20 government agencies on existing Guidelines and how such a
competition toolkit would be used in their work. CCS also reviewed international practices
andmaterials issued by overseas jurisdictions to identify possible areas for improvement.
Following the review, CCS has developed a competition toolkit (“Toolkit”) for government
agencies tohelppublicofficersbetterunderstandcompetitionconceptsandtheCompetition
Act inSingapore, aswell as to providematerials for public officers to self-assesswhether
their proposed policies and initiatives are likely to raise competition concerns.
COMPETITION TOOLKIT FOR
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
MAJOR FEATURES OF THE TOOLKIT
The Toolkit replaces the Guidelines. The content from the Guidelines is updated and
included as part of the Toolkit. Additionally, the Toolkit covers the following newcontent:
47
CCS ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016
GUIDING YOU TO NEW HEIGHTS