Section 51B: Market inquiries

51B. Market inquiries (1) The Executive Director may conduct a market inquiry where he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that any feature, or combination of features, of any market in Mauritius prevents, restricts or distorts competition in connection with the supply or acquisition of any goods or services in Mauritius. (2) For the purpose of subsection (1), any reference to a feature of a market in Mauritius for goods or services shall be construed as a reference to – (a) the structure of the market concerned or any aspect of that structure; (b) any conduct, whether or not in the market concerned, of one or more than one enterprise which supplies or acquires goods or services in the market concerned; or (c) any conduct relating to the market concerned of customers or suppliers of any enterprise which supplies or acquires goods or services. (3) The potential scope of a market inquiry shall not be limited by the fact that a given sector of the economy is in the public or private sector or is regulated by law and any regulatory authority. (4) For the purpose of a market inquiry, the Executive Director shall have the powers of investigation pursuant to section 52. (5) Upon conclusion of a market inquiry, the Executive Director shall prepare a report of his findings and recommendations and submit the report to the Commission. (6) The Commission shall review the report and either adopt the report or, if it has reason to do so, request the Executive Director to review and reconsider any particular part of the report and prepare it for resubmission. (7) Where, in light of the report submitted under this section, the Commission determines that any feature, or combination of features, of any market in Mauritius prevents, restricts or distorts competition, it may, for the purpose of remedying, mitigating or preventing the adverse effect on competition it has identified, issue any recommendation it deems appropriate to the concerned authority with respect to changes to policy, laws and regulations and competition matters. (8) The Executive Director shall publish on the website of the Commission – (a) the report when adopted by the Commission under subsection (6); and (b) any recommendation issued under subsection (7). (9) The Executive Director may omit from the published report any information that was provided in the course of the market inquiry solely on the basis of a confidentiality undertaking. (10) Nothing in this section shall limit the power of the Executive Director to open an investigation under section 51 at any time during or after the market inquiry in accordance with this Act on the basis of information obtained during the market inquiry.