CCS Fines 16 Employment Agencies For Price Fixing

30 Sept 2011

(View Media Release in PDF)

1. The Competition Commission of Singapore (“CCS”) issued today an Infringement Decision against 16 employment agencies in Singapore for breaching the Competition Act (“the Act”). The agencies were found to have infringed section 34 of the Act, which prohibits, amongst other things, price fixing activities.
2. The 16 employment agencies are:

• Arrow Employment Pte Ltd
• Best Home Employment Agency Pte Ltd
• Comfort Employment Pte Ltd
• Crislo Employment Agency Pte Ltd
• Crislo Resources
• Homekeeper International Pte Ltd
• Jack Focus Management Pte Ltd
• Javamaids
• JPB International Services
• Maid Management Services Pte Ltd
• Nation Employment Pte Ltd
• Net Resources Recruitment
• Nora Employment Agency
• SLF Green Maid Agency
• Swift Personnel Pte Ltd
• TM Global HR Consultancy

3. The employment agencies engaged in anti-competitive conduct by participating in a meeting that attempted to collectively fix the monthly salaries of new Indonesian Foreign Domestic Workers (“FDWs”) in Singapore, with the object to restrict competition.
4. CCS started its investigation following media reports in January 2011 that a number of employment agencies had discussed to collectively raise the monthly salaries of new Indonesian FDWs in Singapore to S$450.
5. During investigation, CCS obtained evidence that there had been a meeting at Keppel Club involving the 16 employment agencies. During the meeting, the 16 employment agencies discussed, amongst other issues, increasing the monthly salary of new Indonesian FDWs in Singapore in order to resolve the problem of reduced supply of Indonesian FDWs. Under the Competition Act, such discussions which have the object of directly or indirectly fixing prices are prohibited.
6. On 13 May 2011, CCS issued a Proposed Infringement Decision to the 16 employment agencies. CCS received representations from 12 of them. 4 did not make any representations.
7. CCS considers price fixing to be a serious infringement of Section 34 of the Act, which sets out the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements. In arriving at its decision, CCS does not take a view on what should be the appropriate level of monthly salaries for new Indonesian FDWs in Singapore. What is prohibited under the Act is the attempt by competitors to collectively fix the monthly salaries of new Indonesian FDWs in Singapore, thereby restricting competition in the market.
8. The financial parties levied on the 16 employment agencies are as follows:

In levying the financial penalties, CCS took into account the nature of the infringement and the circumstances under which the infringement was committed, aggravating and mitigating factors, as well as representations made by the employment agencies with regard to the calculation of penalties. The details are in the Infringement Decision.

9. Further information on the investigation, analysis of the case and the basis of calculation of the financial penalty imposed on the infringing parties are set out in the Infringement Decision (ID) and the document is available in the Public Register.
   

    

About The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS)

CCS is a statutory board established under the Act on 1 January 2005 to administer and enforce the Competition Act.  The Act empowers CCS to investigate alleged anti-competitive activities, determine if such activities infringe the Act and impose suitable remedies, directions and financial penalties.

For more information, please visit www.ccs.gov.sg.