The work of the Commission's experts was honored in two categories of the Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards.
The Competition Commission of South Africa (“Commission”) continues to earn international recognition, this time for its leading market inquiry into online intermediation platforms. At the 2024 Antitrust Writing Awards held in Washington DC on Tuesday, 09 April 2024, the Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry (“OIPMI”) team scooped two awards – one for its final report and decision, and another for an academic article on competition dynamics in South Africa’s digital markets for travel and tourism.
The OIPMI team’s final report and decision was selected as one of the eight Best Soft Law, Africa and Middle East, Jury Choice, while an academic article titled An analysis of competition dynamics in South African digital markets for travel and tourism by principal analyst, Itumeleng Lesofe and senior economist, Siphosethu Tetani bagged the award for Academic Articles, Digital, Readers Choice. This esteemed recognition is the culmination of a rigorous three-month evaluation process, involving a combined 100 international antitrust experts and 600 reviewed academic papers across the two categories.
The OIPMI report, released in June 2023, investigated local and international business-to-consumer (B2C) online platform markets, and made final findings on features that adversely affect competition in these markets. The final report included a set of remedial actions that platforms, and some other businesses, are required to implement to remedy the adverse effects. In addition, recommendations were also made to the Government on entrepreneurial funding to facilitate the entry into markets for historically disadvantaged persons (HDPs).
“The significance of this achievement cannot be understated. It reflects the dedication, expertise, and collaborative efforts of our team in addressing critical issues within the online intermediation platforms market. We are immensely proud of our team for their unwavering commitment to excellence,”
said OIPMI chair James Hodge.
Commissioner Doris Tshepe said:
“We are honored to accept these awards, which serve as a testament to our ongoing commitment to promoting competition and innovation within the fast-growing local and global digital markets.”
The final OIPMI report can be accessed here and the academic article by Tetani and Lesofe can be read here.
