SEYCHELLES Law and Practice Contributed by: Valery Freminot, Salina Sinon, Ruby Simeon and Hazel Naiken, Rivard Nariman
In a vertical relationship, the practice of mini - mum/maximum resale price maintenance is prohibited. A supplier/producer may prevent this practice by recommending a minimum/ maximum resale price to the reseller of goods or services. Prior Authorisation Section 128 of the Fair Trading Act 2022, how - ever, provides that an enterprise that seeks to enter into an anti-competitive agreement may seek authorisation from the Commission to carry out the agreement or practice. The Commission then recommends to the Fair Trading Tribunal whether to grant the authorisation, provided that it is satisfied that the agreement or practice is likely to promote public benefit and is reason - able in the circumstances. Before the Fair Trading Tribunal grants or refuses the authorisation, the parties to the agreement are notified and invited to submit their written representations within 30 days of the notice. 6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position To establish whether there is an abuse of domi - nance, the Commission has to determine firstly whether an enterprise holds a dominant posi - tion. As per Section 125 (1) of the Fair Trading Act 2022, an enterprise holds a dominant posi - tion if – by itself or in connection with another enterprise – it occupies a position of economic strength that enables it to operate in a market without effective constraints from its competi - tors. Where the Commission, in its opinion, is satisfied that the enterprise holds a substantial share of the market or it has market power, this is also considered as holding a dominant position. Section 125 (4) of the Fair Trading Act 2022 lists practices that amount to an abuse of dominant position. These includes predatory pricing,
exclusive dealing, tied selling, bundling, dis - criminatory activities, unfair trading conditions, restricting production or market access, and exclusionary activities. An enterprise that is found to be engaging in this prohibited conduct may rely on the following grounds as a defence: • proof that the aim of the behaviour concerned was exclusively to improve the production or distribution of goods or promote technical or economic progress, which benefited consum - ers as a result; • the prohibited conduct is a result of its supe - rior competitive performance on the market; and/or • the enterprise was enforcing its right under its copyrights, patent, registered trade mark or design, provided that those rights do not have the effect of substantially lessening competi - tion in a market and do not impede or prevent the transfer and dissemination of technology. In recent years, since 2021, the Commission has not received nor investigated any complaint about any case of abuse of dominant position. The Industrial Property (Patents) Regulations 2014 defines a patent as an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. To be granted a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application, which must be 7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
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