Chairperson, it is always an honour to speak in the House. That is why I am taking some of hon members' time, if they do not mind, despite the fact that there is no speakers' list and, I think, all parties support the amendment.
I also feel that the Competition Act is an important piece of legislation. I think it has had a marked impact on the workings of the South African economy and will continue, I think, to improve the degree of competition in our economy.
This amendment, to which the Council has made certain additions, deals with a number of issues. There are three important ones which I would like to draw the House's attention to very briefly. Firstly, this amendment does remove the legislative uncertainty that emerged over differing interpretations of the meaning of section 3(1)(d). I think this will help a great deal in the future.
Secondly, it deals with the thresholds as to the size of mergers that have to notify. The main difficulty here was that the original Act meant that these thresholds could only be adjusted by an amendment and dealt with every five years. This proved to be creating various practical problems. I do not think that any of us envisaged the number of mergers that would be notified to the Competition Commission, and, clearly, the threshold level needs to be more adaptable than was catered for in the original legislation.
Thirdly, and an important point, it allows for some interim relief in the case of a complaint against anticompetitive practices. Given the complexity of these cases there can be a delay in the consideration, although the Act does set time limits. So I think, again, that this is the result of our experience of the first year of the Act.
I would like to thank both the National Assembly and the NCOP for the work they have done on this Act, and also various stakeholders in our economy for the very considered and useful propositions they made around the experiences we had in the first year. I urge support from the House. [Applause.] Debate concluded.
Bill, subject to proposed amendments, agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.