SAB in bid to get complaint dismissed

Johannesburg - The Competition Tribunal will hear an application on Friday by SAB to dismiss the case which the Competition Commission brought against it and its distributors in December 2007.

The application comes after a three-year investigation by the Commission against SAB, followed by an ongoing hearing before the Tribunal which started on 11 August 2010.

In its 2007 complaint the Commission alleged that:

* SAB's agreements with its distributors divided markets between competitors, in contravention of the Competition Act;

* SAB favoured its own distributors at the expense of independent distributors and, in that way, placed independent distributors at a disadvantage; and

* SAB had abused its dominance by requiring retail outlets not to deal with its competitors, thereby placing SAB's competitors at a disadvantage in the beer market.

Since referring this case to the Tribunal, the parties have agreed to only deal with the allegations relating to the distributors for the time being and bring the allegations of abuse of dominance at a later stage.

SAB has denied these allegations and tomorrow it will argue that the Commission was not entitled to refer the allegations to the Tribunal as it did.

Accordingly, SAB argues, the Tribunal should dismiss the Commission's case before the hearing goesany further.

The Commission believes it was entitled to refer all its allegations and will therefore ask the Tribunal to disregard SAB's application.

On Monday the Tribunal adjourned the hearing into the allegations of anti-competitive behaviour by SAB to hear the application to dismiss the Commission's case.

If the Tribunal finds in SAB's favour, this will end the proceedings currently against SAB.

Should the Tribunal find against SAB, the main hearing will continue.