Economic Development Minister Philip Ozouf says that he is mulling over the decision in the light of recommendations from the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority.
The JCRA say that there is ‘no compelling evidence of compliance burdens on small businesses’ and are advising the minister not to allow exemptions because of the potential risk that anti-competitive conduct will be ‘insulated’ from the law, especially if a small business controls a large proportion of its market.
The regulators also say that they intend to publish simpler, shorter guidelines on specific areas of the law and that they will provide confidential advice on request.
In addition, many small business arrangements are below the guideline 25% of market share which automatically makes them compliant with part two of the law.
In relation to ‘block exemptions’ for groups of businesses (such as those in the motor trade), the JCRA has only had one application in ten months (for the ‘out of hours’ GP co-operative).
Block exemptions are common in the European Union because of the volume of regulated businesses, but the JCRA says that it is ‘not convinced that standards adopted for the entire EU market would be equally applicable in a small economy like Jersey’.
Senator Ozouf said: ‘This is an important issue for the business community, and I think it is important for me to pause, not just to fall in with the JCRA but to give it my full consideration.
