PETALING JAYA (June 24): The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) will soon be given the power to regulate merger and acquisition (M&A) activities once the Parliament approves proposed amendments to the Competition Act 2010, which is expected to be tabled by year-end.

Currently, Malaysia is the only country in Southeast Asia where its competition commission is without the power to regulate M&A activities.

With the introduction of merger controls, companies seeking mergers would need to obtain clearance from MyCC.

However, the commission is excluded from overseeing sectors that already have existing regulators, MyCC chief executive officer Iskandar Ismail told The Edge at the closing ceremony of the Third MyCC Competition Law Conference 2022: Digital Economy, Merger and Bid Rigging on Friday (June 24).

“MyCC will have the power over most companies including public listed companies but excluding those under regulators such as the Energy Commission, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom).

“ We will focus on the mergers that are substantially lessening competition in the market which result in concentration and monopoly that ultimately harm the consumers,” he added.

He said the draft bill of the amended Competition Act has already been submitted to the Attorney-General Chambers.

“We are expecting to table the draft bill to Parliament between October and December. And then, we want to give the market a one year grace period to be familiar with the new merger control regime. We also want that period to get ourselves ready too,” he said.

Iskandar said the jurisdiction of merger control is important to safeguard consumers' welfare by preventing anti-competitiveness, and concentration of power on any businesses.

“The Malaysian market has to start adapting. There are 120 countries that have the merger regime including our neighbourings, Laos and Thailand.

“Once we have the power, we will prioritise on looking into essential items such as how we have prioritised on the chicken cartel issue because it is supposed to be one of the cheapest sources of protein,” he added.

MyCC previously intended for the merger control legislation to come into full effect by end-2020. However, it was postponed due to the political transition and the Covid-19 pandemic.