COMPETITION LAW: SIBERGRAMME 2/2012

Section 8 of the South African Competition Act 89 of 1998 ("the Act") is the abuse of dominance prohibition. Our focus in this article is specifically on section 8(b), which prohibits a dominant firm from refusing to give a competitor access to an essential facility when it is economically feasible to do so. There is a dearth of case law articulating the essential facilities doctrine ("the doctrine"); however, an assessment of the small amount of jurisprudence available indicates that the courts tend towards a narrow interpretation of the doctrine.