Small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to work together to negotiate collective purchasing deals with larger suppliers, and to collaborate on pricing and production agreements in terms of a new block exemption from the anti-collusion provisions of SA’s competition legislation.
Trade, industry and competition minister Ebrahim Patel said on Wednesday the block exemption had been gazetted for public comment. He was speaking at the opening of the annual competition law, economics and policy conference hosted by SA’s competition authorities in Johannesburg. The conference, in its 16th year, was the first to be held in person since 2019...