As advised in our recent competition e-alert (available here), the Competition Commission has published draft versions of the 'Statement of Issues' and 'Guidelines for Participation' for public comment by 30 June 2014.

The Statement of Issues must be read in conjunction with the Terms of Reference and details the Panel’s initial view of the appropriate framework that will be used to conduct the market inquiry and sets out a number of topics for investigation. The Statement of Issues sets out six theories of harm which are intended to indicate to stakeholders the issues that the Panel seeks to address and to act as a guide to stakeholders to provide the relevant information. The theories of harm as currently set out are:

• Theory 1: market power and distortions in healthcare financing;
• Theory 2: market power and distortions in relation to healthcare facilities;
• Theory 3: market power and distortions in relation to healthcare practitioners;
• Theory 4: barriers to entry and expansion at various levels of the healthcare value chain;
• Theory 5: imperfect information; and
• Theory 6: regulatory framework.

Although the Statement of Issues still focuses on the private healthcare sector (and the Terms of Reference excludes the public sector as a focus area for the inquiry), the Panel notes in the Statement of Issues that it considers it important to understand how the public and private sectors interact and what, if any, constraints exist between the two that affect competitive outcomes in the public sector. Daryl Dingley, a partner in our competition practice, was interviewed by Business Day TV and BizNews (CNBC Africa) to obtain his insights on the private healthcare market inquiry (and in particular the Statement of Issues following their publication). Recordings of the interviews are available here and here.

The Guidelines for Participation contain the rules for participation that will apply to all stakeholders who wish to participate in the proceedings. The guidelines seek to ensure inter alia that stakeholders know what to expect, how to engage with the Panel, and how information will be used. The guidelines also outline who may participate, how they may submit information, how confidential information must be claimed and treated, the administrative activities of the inquiry, the rights and responsibilities of participants and the powers of the Chairperson and Panel.

In addition to publishing the Statement of Issue and the Guidelines for Participation, the Panel also published 'Disclosures of Interest'.