KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has issued a "proposed decision" against 81 companies for their involvement in a price-fixing agreement for the provision of Umrah travel services in Malaysia since 2023.
Through its investigation, MyCC said it provisionally finds these companies which are also members of an association registered in Malaysia have agreed to fix the floor prices for both economy and premium Umrah package services during their meetings in early 2023.
MyCC which is an agency under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) said in a statement these cartel behaviours can be deemed as an infringement under section 4 of the Competition Act 2010 (Act 712).
MyCC said it also discovered that the association in question later made announcements to the media in order to inform the public of their agreed floor prices.
All of these enterprises except for 10 are licensed to carry out umrah travel services.
"It is important to highlight that at this stage, the Proposed Decision is a provisional finding and it should not be assumed that these enterprises have infringed the Act," it said.
"As required by the Act, the companies named in the Proposed Decision have been notified of the proposed penalties. These enterprises are given the opportunity to submit their written representations to MyCC within 30 days of receiving the Proposed Decision," it added.
The said companies will also have an opportunity to present their oral representations before the Commission on a date to be determined later, it noted.
MyCC, as a quasi-judicial body, said it will issue its Final Decision after taking into account the representations made by these enterprises together with the evidence obtained during the investigation.
MyCC is an independent body responsible for enforcing the Competition Act 2010 with an objective of creating healthy competition which would, in turn, stimulate productivity and innovation, thus creating wider choices of products for consumers with better quality and reasonable prices.
