Antitrust

I read with interest Star's Jun 9 front page story about the beef import cartel under the headline Cartel broken.

However, the story is a little scant about how exactly the cartel was “broken” and how it came about in the first place.

It also raises other questions. For example, are there competition laws or anti-cartel (i.e. antitrust) laws in Malaysia? Is their behaviour even illegal (from the Malaysian legal standpoint) in the first place? How do we ensure this situation doesn’t arise again?

Since the Government is portraying itself as cartel-busters, how about looking at the book and magazine suppliers in Malaysia, who seem to engaging in cartel-like behaviour?

If you’re interested in some good examples of anti-cartel laws take a look at:

United States Antitrust Law or European Community Competition Law.