In brief

KPPU, the Indonesian competition authority, issued 15 decisions this year, a decline from 23 decisions in 2021. Late merger filing cases still account for the majority of decisions, followed by small and micro enterprises (“SME“) partnership cases. The increasing number of SME partnership cases suggests closer scrutiny by KPPU of partnerships between big and medium corporations and SMEs , which is in line with KPPU’s priorities as the pandemic subsides. We summarize below the antitrust and competition enforcement by KPPU in 2022 and look at what to anticipate in 2023.

2022 KPPU enforcement in numbers

Data source: KPPU’s website

Trends and hot topics

Since the issuance of KPPU Regulation No. 1 of 2022, KPPU has been advocating for more robust antitrust and competition compliance programs and for corporations to obtain certification from the KPPU.

KPPU is starting to explore issues in the tech sector, including assessing metadata of public bid submissions as evidence in bid rigging cases.

On the horizon

In a recent press release, KPPU announced that its focus in 2023 will be on addressing the impact of the economic slowdown on businesses, including an increasing focus on SME partnerships and promoting a compliance culture. KPPU also aims to implement a better data management system for its merger control assessments due to the unprecedented rise in merger filings this year.

As the current KPPU leadership term will end in Q1 2023, the KPPU  election process is now ongoing. We can likely expect a shift in terms of the types of cases and sectors of focus from the new KPPU leadership team when they begin their terms in Q2 2023.

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