The Competition Appeal Court is a specialist South African court that hears appeals from the

Competition Tribunal The Competition Tribunal is a federal adjudicative body in Canada that makes findings in regard to competition laws under the Competition Act. Restrictive Trade Practices Commission The tribunal was first known under its former name, the Restrictiv ...

. The court was established by the Competition Act 89, 1998 and has national jurisdiction in matters of South African

competition law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

. Judges of the Competition Appeal Court are judges of the

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction over a defined geographical ...

and are appointed by the

President of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nationa ...

on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.

Status and composition

The Competition Appeal Court was established as a

court of record A court of record is a trial court or appellate court in which a record of the proceedings is captured and preserved, for the possibility of appeal. A court clerk or a court reporter takes down a record of oral proceedings. That written recor ...

by Section 36 of the Competition Act, which gives it a "status similar to that of a High Court". It is sometimes considered to be a special division of the High Court. The bench is appointed for a fixed term by the President of South Africa on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. At least three members must be judges of the High Court, and one of those three must be designated as the Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court. After consulting the Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court, the Minister of Justice may elect to second any number of High Court judges to serve as acting judges of the Competition Appeal Court. Judges lose their status in the Competition Appeal Court if they cease to be judges of the High Court.

Functions

The Competition Appeal Court is one of three competition authorities tasked with enforcing South African competition law; the others are the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal. The court has the power to consider any appeal or review of any decision of the Competition Tribunal. It is also required to confirm any order made by the Competition Tribunal for the divestiture of assets by parties who contravened Section 8 of the Competition Act.

Jurisdiction

In terms of the Competition Act, the Competition Appeal Court has jurisdiction throughout South Africa. In addition, the Competition Tribunal and Competition Appeal Court have

exclusive jurisdiction Exclusive jurisdiction exists in civil procedure if one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. The opposite situation is concurrent jurisdiction (or non-exclusive jurisdiction) in which more than one cour ...

to adjudicate matters involving conduct prohibited by the Competition Act.

Dennis Davis Dennis Davis (August 28, 1949 – April 6, 2016) was an American drummer and session musician best known for his work with David Bowie, playing on ten albums - including seven successive studio albums - during the singer's classic mid- and late ...

, the former Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court, argues that this exclusive jurisdiction should be preserved, given the complex nature of competition law and the technical

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

knowledge required for its interpretation. Orders of the Competition Appeal Court may be appealed in South Africa's apex court, the Constitutional Court. However, the precise extent and nature of the Constitutional Court's jurisdiction over competition law matters remain unclear. There was formerly an intermediate right of appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, but that right was extinguished in 2013 by the

Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa The Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa (formally the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012) made a number of changes to the structure of the South African judiciary. The bill for the amendment was passed by the Natio ...

Former judge president

Notable judges

Former permanent judges of the Competition Appeal Court include: * Nambitha Dambuza * Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana * Owen Rogers * Dumisani Zondi * Mbuyiseli Madlanga

References

{{Reflist

External links

Decisions
of the Competition Appeal Court
Current members
of the Competition Appeal Court Courts of South Africa Appellate courts