The Competition Commission (Commission) is an independent statutory body established under the Competition Ordinance (Ordinance). The Commission is committed to promoting a competitive environment that will bring more choices and better quality and prices of goods and services to consumers in Hong Kong.

The Ordinance prohibits anti-competitive conduct by businesses. Cartel behaviours including bid-rigging are considered serious anti-competitive conduct under the Ordinance and are accorded priority according to the Enforcement Policy of the Commission.

Anti-competitive bid-rigging can take a number of forms, including agreements amongst bidders on who should win a bid or supporting an agreed winner by refraining from bidding, withdrawing bids or submitting bids with higher prices / unacceptable terms. The Commission may conduct an investigation into a case if it has reasonable cause to suspect that bid-rigging has taken place.

If the Commission considers that a contravention has occurred, it may commence proceedings in the Competition Tribunal seeking remedies including fines of up to 10% of an undertaking’s annual local turnover for a maximum period of three years and disqualification of directors from managing a company. Victims of anti-competitive behaviour can pursue “follow-on claims” for damages.  

The Commission relies on complaints and queries from the public as an important means of identifying possible contraventions of the Ordinance. If you wish to file a complaint or submit a query, please visit
www.compcomm.hk/en/applications/make_a_complaint/complaint.html

The Commission has developed a series of educational materials to raise community awareness of bid-rigging and to educate on how to prevent and detect bid-rigging. You are welcome to download the materials at
www.compcomm.hk/en/media/reports_publications/bid_rigging.html

If you wish to know more about anti-competitive conduct, please visit
www.compcomm.hk/en/practices/what_is_comp/overview.html