Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19
The prohibition of excessive pricing is the most controversial contravention in the Competition Act 89 of 1998. The publication of Babelegi Workwear and Industrial Supplies CC and DisChem Pharmacies Limited, by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa (“Tribunal”) and subsequently the Competition Ap...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Department of Commercial Law
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867614224977494016 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Nyongwana, Zizipho |
| author2 | Bradstreet, Richard |
| author_browse | Bradstreet, Richard Nyongwana, Zizipho |
| author_facet | Bradstreet, Richard Nyongwana, Zizipho |
| author_sort | Nyongwana, Zizipho |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The prohibition of excessive pricing is the most controversial contravention in the Competition Act 89 of 1998. The publication of Babelegi Workwear and Industrial Supplies CC and DisChem Pharmacies Limited, by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa (“Tribunal”) and subsequently the Competition Appeal Court (“CAC”) in 2020 has brought the assessment of excessive pricing under the limelight. This is because competition authorities, in their assessment of dominance and market power, departed from existing precedent and stood in contrast with international best practice and guidance provided by the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). The implications of such departures can prove detrimental to future cases of excessive pricing and the assessment thereof. For instance, by departing from traditional approaches to assessing excessive pricing and leaning more toward price gouging, the Tribunal and CAC have created uncertainty and made it difficult for firms to internally assess their conduct against relevant benchmarks. In this regard, the fundamental question that arises when considering the post-COVID-19 era is whether cases prosecuted during the COVID-19 era can be used as precedent for post-COVID-19 prosecutions. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the COVID regulations have on post-COVID jurisprudence, as well as whether there is a general increase in prosecutions during normal market conditions. It will be particularly interesting to see if competition authorities continue to embrace the concept of price gouging despite claims that it does not exist in our law. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41612 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:48:39.316Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Department of Commercial Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Commercial Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41612 The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 Nyongwana, Zizipho Bradstreet, Richard Commercial Law The prohibition of excessive pricing is the most controversial contravention in the Competition Act 89 of 1998. The publication of Babelegi Workwear and Industrial Supplies CC and DisChem Pharmacies Limited, by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa (“Tribunal”) and subsequently the Competition Appeal Court (“CAC”) in 2020 has brought the assessment of excessive pricing under the limelight. This is because competition authorities, in their assessment of dominance and market power, departed from existing precedent and stood in contrast with international best practice and guidance provided by the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). The implications of such departures can prove detrimental to future cases of excessive pricing and the assessment thereof. For instance, by departing from traditional approaches to assessing excessive pricing and leaning more toward price gouging, the Tribunal and CAC have created uncertainty and made it difficult for firms to internally assess their conduct against relevant benchmarks. In this regard, the fundamental question that arises when considering the post-COVID-19 era is whether cases prosecuted during the COVID-19 era can be used as precedent for post-COVID-19 prosecutions. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, the COVID regulations have on post-COVID jurisprudence, as well as whether there is a general increase in prosecutions during normal market conditions. It will be particularly interesting to see if competition authorities continue to embrace the concept of price gouging despite claims that it does not exist in our law. 2025-08-25T09:52:26Z 2025-08-25T09:52:26Z 2025 2025-08-18T12:19:19Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41612 en eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law Universiy of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Commercial Law Nyongwana, Zizipho The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| title_full | The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| title_fullStr | The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| title_short | The assessment of excessive pricing: before, during, and after COVID-19 |
| title_sort | assessment of excessive pricing before during and after covid 19 |
| topic | Commercial Law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41612 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nyongwanazizipho theassessmentofexcessivepricingbeforeduringandaftercovid19 AT nyongwanazizipho assessmentofexcessivepricingbeforeduringandaftercovid19 |