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The Competition Commission has been ordered to file a supplementary affidavit in an abuse of dominance case against Shoprite Checkers and Computicket.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Competition Tribunal said the Commission had been given 30 days to submit the papers, or the companies would be give leave to have the case dismissed.
The Commission had in December 2018 referred the matter to the Tribunal. It wants Shoprite Checkers, as Computicket’s parent company, to be held jointly liable for alleged contravention of the Competition Act.
The Tribunal, however, ordered that Computicket and Shoprite Checkers are "separate economic entities and should therefore be treated as such in respect of the allegations contained in the Commission’s complaint referral."
The companies have asked the Tribunal to dismiss the Commission’s case against them, which refers to a period between 2013 and now, according to the anti-trust body. The Commission initially asked the Tribunal to impose an administrative penalty of 10% of Computicket and Shoprite Checkers's annual turnover.
In the initial complaint, it was alleged that Computicket engaged in anti-competitive practices by concluding exclusive agreements with inventory providers to provide ticket distribution services for events such as sports, cinemas, theatres and festivals, Fin24 previously reported.
In November 2019, the Tribunal heard an exception application by Computicket, as well as a dismissal application and exception application by Shoprite Checkers.
Computicket asked the Tribunal to order the Commission "to improve upon its pleadings to address the vague and embarrassing nature of the case sought to be made out."
- Compiled by Sibongile Khumalo
