The Competition Commission filed a lawsuit in 2020 against Tien Lee Bookstore, Commercial Press, Joint Publishing, and the general manager of Tien Lee on allegations of conspiring to fix prices, bid rigging, and market allocation in the sale of primary and secondary school textbooks. The Commission sought a court order declaring the defendants in violation of the “First Conduct Rule” and requested fines as well as the disqualification of the individual defendant from directorship. The case was heard at the High Court on the 15th.
The plaintiff in this case is the Competition Commission, with the four respondents being Tien Lee Bookstore Limited, Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Limited, Joint Publishing (Group) Limited, and the general manager of Tien Lee, Hui Chiu Ming.
The opening statement by the Competition Commission alleged that in a retail industry association meeting held in 2011, the then-chairman Hui Chiu Ming suggested industry cooperation to cap customer discounts at no more than 10% and urged members to reduce the discount level on textbook orders to a maximum of 12%.
The Commission claimed that the collusion agreement among the defendants continued after the Competition Ordinance came into effect in 2015, with Tien Lee and other bookstores still acting according to the agreement, providing the same discounts to multiple Catholic schools with the agreement remaining in force. It was only in 2017, after Hui Chiu Ming and others became aware of the investigation, that they altered the 7% discount traditionally given to schools, a sequence of events that the Competition Commission side believes was not coincidental.
The defense representing Commercial Press and Joint Publishing argued that if a discount figure was unilaterally proposed at a meeting without a response from the other party, it does not constitute an agreement. The defense also questioned the lack of testimony from publishers presented by the Commission and the absence of accusations against other participants in the retail industry association.
Case number: CTEA 2/2020
Responsibility Editor: Chen Wenyi