Hong Kong Lawyer
April 2016
On 29 January 2016, the Court of First Instance handed down an important decision on the procedural and substantive aspects of competition law. Justice Godfrey Lam, sitting in the Court of First Instance, decided to quash the 2013 decision of the Communication Authority (“CA”) that Television Broadcasts Limited (“TVB”) had violated the competition provisions in the Broadcasting Ordinance, for which TVB was fined a sum of HK$900,000 and ordered to rectify its practices. The judge decided that the CA’s decision should be quashed for procedural unconstitutionality and, alternatively, part of the decision should be quashed for the disproportionate remedies ordered. The judge nonetheless upheld the CA’s competition law analysis of TVB’s practices.
The Competition Ordinance, which is Hong Kong’s first cross-sector competition legislation that came into full operation on 14 December 2015, has now replaced the competition provisions in the Broadcasting Ordinance. As the first competition case decided after the full commencement of the Competition Ordinance, the TVB decision is important and sheds light on how the Competition Tribunal (of which Justice Godfrey Lam is the President) and other courts may decide similar procedural issues, analyse competition law issues and order remedies under the new Ordinance... Click here to read the full article.
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