Bar Association proposes ‘double-track’ approach to criminalising bid-rigging

Chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet says implementing ‘criminal track’ alongside ‘civil track’ to encourage whistle-blowing will increase deterrence

The Hong Kong Bar Association has proposed criminalising bid-rigging by introducing a “double-track” approach to the Competition Ordinance, describing it as a quick fix to increase deterrence and encourage more whistle-blowers to expose industry malpractice following the city’s deadliest fire in decades.

Under the current civil regime established in 2015, the ordinance only punishes individuals involved in serious anticompetitive acts, such as bid-rigging, with fines.

But the new proposal calls for creating a separate “criminal track” to tackle such acts and suggested a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet told the South China Morning Post.

An association task force reviewed the local legislation and studied practices in other jurisdictions, following last November’s Tai Po fire, which claimed 168 lives and displaced nearly 5,000 residents.

In 2008, a government consultation document on competition laws described the proposal for the existing ordinance as a new step for Hong Kong, with authorities deciding to impose only civil sanctions rather than criminal penalties.

Maurellet said that introducing a criminal track for prosecuting “persons involved in contravention of competition rules” under the ordinance would work alongside the “civil track” to increase deterrence.