The Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) has been unsuccessful in its application to review the Federal Court’s previous decision to deny the regulatory body the opportunity to pursue its appeal in order to reinstate the RM10 million in fines imposed on Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia Berhad for violating a market-sharing prohibition.
A three-member panel of the Federal Court, consisting of Court of Appeal President Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Federal Court Judges Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, dismissed MyCC’s review application on November 1.
In delivering the court’s ruling, Justice Abang Iskandar stated that there were no merits to MyCC’s review application and that the regulatory body failed to meet the threshold requirement for a review of the previous Federal Court decision.
Justice Abang Iskandar emphasized that there was no evidence to suggest that the previous Federal Court decision was tainted by a denial of natural justice.
MyCC has been ordered to pay MAS and AirAsia RM50,000 each in costs.
MyCC sought a review from this panel of the Federal Court after another panel rejected the regulatory body’s application for leave to pursue its appeal against a decision by the Court of Appeal on February 9, 2022.
On April 26, 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the RM10 million fine imposed on the airlines by MyCC in 2014 for breaching the market sharing prohibition under Section 4(2) of the Competition Act through an agreement to share markets in the air transport services sector in Malaysia.
AirAsia and MAS appealed the fine, and on February 18, 2016, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) set aside MyCC’s decision.
MyCC then filed a judicial review application in the High Court to nullify CAT’s decision and reinstate its own decision to impose fines on MAS and AirAsia.
In December 2018, the Kuala Lumpur High Court approved MyCC’s judicial review and reinstated its decision to fine both airlines, prompting MAS and AirAsia to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
The amount of the fine was determined based on flights operated by both airlines from January to April 2012 on the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur-Kuching, Kuala Lumpur-Sandakan, and Kuala Lumpur-Sibu routes. – Bernama
