Fight over fines: The Asia-Pacific Tipline for 17 January 2020

It was a busy week in Hong Kong, where the competition watchdog and 10 companies involved in a decorators’ cartel argued over what the reasonable penalties should be in the first-ever case to reach the fining stage. While the commission sought certainty and penalties that deter hardcore anticompetitive conduct, the decorators argued for mitigating factors and a lessening of the fines. Justice Godfrey Lam Wan-ho, the president of Hong Kong’s Competition Tribunal, said he would take the arguments under consideration and issue a written ruling in due course.