Phnom Penh, 08 February 2023:  H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Cambodia Competition Commission (CCC), chaired the 3rd Meeting at the Ministry of Commerce to review, discuss, and endorse the regulations under the Law on Competition on 3 agenda items, including (1) Draft Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures for Issuance of Interim Measures and/or Decisions of the CCC, (2) Draft Decision on Formalities and Procedures for the Calculation of Pecuniary Penalties, and (3) Draft Decision on Pre-Notification Thresholds for Business Combinations.

The 3^rd meeting of the CCC aims to provide opportunities for all CCC members to provide substantial inputs on the aforementioned documents to ensure the comprehensiveness and consistency accordance with the applicable regulatory documents, while allowing the Secretariat of CCC to respond and explain to the CCC on the preparation and development of these documents in the midst of meeting.

At the outset of this meeting, H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the CCC, applauded the CCF Directorate-General (Secretariat of the CCC) for the efforts of liaison with the experienced international competition authorities in sharing the knowledge to the CCC, including the arrangement of the Study Visit to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) taking place on 23-24 March 2023, development of regulations and past achievements.

Simultaneously, H.E. Pan Sorasak conveyed his profound gratitude to the CCC independent members for participating in the previous training courses, as well as all CCC members for the substantial inputs on the adopted regulations. Following the joint efforts of all CCC members and the CCF Directorate-General (Secretariat of the CCC), the achievements of CCC include the following:

1. Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation under the Law on Competition
2. Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition
3. Decision on the Establishment of the Secretariat Working Group of the Cambodia Competition Commission
4. Inter-Ministerial Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures for the Calculation of Pecuniary Penalties under the Law on Competition.
5. Sub-Decree on the Requirements and Procedures for Business Combinations, which is finalized at the Inter-Ministerial meeting and awaiting for the approval by the Head of Royal Government.

Following the opening remarks by H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the CCC, H.E. Phan Oun, Delegate of the Royal Government of Cambodia in charge as Director General of CCF and as a member of the CCC and Chairman of the Secretariat of CCC, reported the work progress, capacity-building of the enforcement officials and CCC members, cooperation with international competition authorities, the process of drafting regulations on the agenda for this third meeting, and way forward.

As a result, the meeting unanimously agreed to the contents of the 3 aforementioned documents and the deadline for provision of additional inputs on these documents from the CCC members by 15 February 2023, by sending them to the secretariat for coordination and modification prior to the submission to H.E. Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the CCC, for signature.

In preparation of the relevant documents for the 4th meeting of the CCC and promotion of the implementation of Cambodia’s Competition Law, the CCF Directorate-General, as the Secretariat of CCC, has set action plan as following:

1. Prepare Draft Prakas on the Requirements and Procedures for Registration of the Pre-Notification for Business Combinations;
2. Prepare Draft Prakas on the Procedures of the Post-Notification for Business Combinations;
3. Prepare Draft Inter-Ministerial Prakas on Fees relating to Notification, Issuance of Advance Ruling Certificate, and Registration of Business Combinations;
4. Prepare Draft Decision on Formalities and Procedures of the Issuance of Advance Ruling Certificate;
5. Persist with the capacity-building of the Investigating officers on the regulations under the Law on Competition, particularly Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures of Inspection and Investigation, and Prakas on the Formalities and Procedures of Negotiated Settlement under the Law on Competition;
6. Strive to implement the CCC's recommendations on the implementation of the CCC on Action Plan 2022-2027.