Malaysia Competition Commission issued a Proposed Decision against Grab Malaysia
28 January 2020
On 23 September 2019, the Malaysia Competition Commission (“MyCC”) issued a Proposed Decision against Grab Inc., GrabCar Sdn. Bhd. and MyTeksi Sdn. Bhd. (collectively referred to as “Grab Malaysia”) for allegedly abusing its dominant position under section 10(1) of the Competition Act 2010 by imposing a number of restrictive clauses on its drivers which prevented the drivers from promoting and providing advertising services for competitors of Grab Malaysia, both in the e-hailing market and the transit media advertising market. The MyCC provisionally found that the restrictive clauses allegedly created barriers to entry and expansion for existing and future competitors of Grab Malaysia.
As a result, the MyCC proposed to impose a financial penalty of MYR86,772,943.76 (approximately US$20 million) against Grab Malaysia, along with a daily financial penalty of MYR15,000 (approximately US$3,500) per day, for each day that Grab Malaysia fails to comply with the directions proposed by the MyCC in its Proposed Decision.
The Proposed Decision was issued pursuant to the MyCC’s investigation into Grab Malaysia following Grab Malaysia’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations in March 2018.