ICC’S PERFORMANCE IN 2020.

The year of 2020 constitutes a tough year for the Indonesia Competition Commission (ICC), but the Commission made our maximum effort to provide positive performance throughout the year. In 2020, ICC handled 36 (thirty six) cases wherein seventeen of them were cases of violations on business competition, 11 (eleven) cases were on delayed notifications of mergers and acquisitions and 8 (eight) cases were on violations of partnership implementation. Fifteen (15) decisions have been announced out of such number of cases. The number of decisions has quantitatively decreased as compared to that of the year 2019. This has been brought about by the temporary pause of case handling during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also causing several cases are still at the Examination Stage by the Commission Panel.

In terms of litigation, the condition is different to date, 72% of the decisions of ICC (namely 168 decisions) have had permanent legal force. This number is above the target set, namely 62%. All the decisions that have had permanent legal force contribute to the State revenues of up to IDR864 billion. In 2020 alone, the total State revenues that have been paid reached IDR35.9 billion.

In terms of accepted complaints by the public, the number has decreased by 31.3% this year as compared to that of the year 2019. Last year, the public complaints reached 134 (one hundred and thirty-four) reports, meanwhile this year the complaints put forward by the public were 92 (ninety-two) reports. This has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which might cause complication for various parties to submit their complaints. Out of the number of clarified complaints, 82 (eighty-two) complaints have been completed and 26.8% of them (or 22 reports) have been followed up to the Pre-investigation stage. The rest are still in the process of clarification or are considered as incomplete complaints or not under the purview of ICC’s absolute competence.

Other than complaint-based cases, ICC also handles ex-officio cases. This year alone, ICC handled 34 (thirty-four) researches for ex-officio cases, of which 10 (ten) of them had been followed up to the Pre-investigation stage, 9 (nine) researches had been terminated and 15 (fifteen) researches are still in process. Amongst the researches of ex-officio cases conducted in 2020 are the baby lobster, flour, sugar, and garlic exports.

ICC has also actively made efforts to give policy recommendations to Government. In 2020, ICC given 23 (twenty-three) policy recommendations to the Government. Such policy recommendations are in the form of suggestions aimed at improving the policies of Central Government and Provincial Governments (87%) as well as follow-ups to decisions of cases (13%). Most of the recommendations were concerning Government policies for the protection of domestic products (especially policy on the imposition of import duties) and policy on the procurement process of public goods and services in various sectors (such as transportation and construction).

In terms of mergers and acquisitions review throughout the year, ICC has successfully completed 213 (two hundred and thirteen) assessments and has turned over 9 (nine) merger and acquisition cases for the Pre-investigation process.

In terms of partnership, ICC has also seriously paid attention to micro, small and medium enterprises. This year, there have been 15 (fifteen) complaints of alleged partnership violations put forward to ICC. Eleven of them have been followed up with Pre-investigations or Examinations, wherein 8 (eight) of them have entered the Case stage or Phase 2 Preliminary Examination. Four cases among them have been provided with a Warning (both the First Warning and the Second Warning). Most of the cases were on core-plasma partnerships in the sector of plantation, production sharing, or distribution/agency.

At the end of 2020, ICC granted ICC Award to 15 (fifteen) Ministries/Institutions in the Central Government and Provincial Governments for their contributions to applying the principles of business competition and the principles of good and operational partnership in institutional policies, precisely on December 15, 2020. For example, Governor of the West Java Provincial Government raised innovations in making various pro-competition policies, such as the development of local electronic catalogs for procurements in several sectors so that small and medium enterprises in the province are capable of competing in a fair and proportional manner.

The ICC Award itself was opened by the Coordinating Minister of Economic and the Chairman of ICC, and was attended by several Ministers of the Developed Indonesia Cabinet and Governors (West Java, North Sumatra, Lampung, and Jambi). The Minister of Cooperatives and MSMEs who also attended the activity underscored the importance of creating equal competition for MSMEs, especially through the granting of the portions of Ministry/Institution expenditures, the amount of value of special procurement, and the obligation to share in the supply chain for MSMEs.

Finally, this year was concluded with the changes of leadership wherein, Kodrat Wibowo, SE., Ph.D. and Dr. Guntur Syahputra Saragih, M.S.M., had been chosen by the Board of Commissioners’ Meeting as the new Chairman and Vice Chairman of ICC for the 2020-2023 period and they had begun to perform their duties effectively since December 16, 2020. The Chairman of ICC, Kodrat Wibowo, emphasized that in the future, there will still be a lot of challenges for ICC, both in terms of staffing and law enforcement rule reform, especially due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and the national economic recovery process. Current conditions have also raised the importance of ICC’s efforts in the field of information technology, digitalization and the use of e-government in performing its duties, functions, and authorities.