What is the Leniency Programme?

The leniency programme is targeted at organisations or person(s) who have participated in cartel activities and therefore liable for infringing the prohibition in section 34 of the Competition Act ("the Act"), but who would nevertheless like to come clean and provide the CCS with evidence of the cartel.

Such organisations or person(s) may be deterred from coming forward and "blowing the whistle" for fear that they may expose themselves to hefty financial penalties for their own involvement in the cartel.

Due to their secret nature, cartels are hard to detect.  The policy objective of detecting and prosecuting cartels requires that organisations or person(s) participating or which have participated in them should be given the incentive to come forward and report the cartel's activities to the CCS.  The leniency programme offers such an incentive by giving whistle-blowing undertakings either immunity from or a reduction in financial penalties.

The Importance of Being the First to "Make it Through the Door"

If an organisation or person is the first to provide the CCS with evidence of the cartel activity, and does so before an investigation into the cartel has commenced, it will get the benefit of full immunity from financial penalties.  However, certain requirements must be satisfied:

• The CCS must not already have sufficient information to establish the alleged cartel's existence;
• The organisation or person must fully cooperate with the CCS in its investigations into the cartel and provide all available evidence;
• The organisation or person must refrain from further participation in the cartel activity from the time of disclosure of the cartel to the CCS, unless otherwise directed by the CCS; and
• The organisation or person must not have been the one who initiated the cartel and must not have coerced any other undertaking to partake in the cartel's activity.

If an organisation or person satisfying all the above requirements comes forward only after an investigation has commenced, but is nevertheless the first to come forward, it will not qualify for immunity but will still qualify for a reduction of up to 100% of the financial penalty.  The magnitude of the reduction lies in the CCS' discretion, and will depend on the circumstances of the leniency application.


Subsequent Leniency Applicants

Subsequent organisations or person(s) (i.e. those who come in after the first place) may be granted a reduction of up to 50% of the financial penalty if they come forward before the CCS issues a notice of its proposed infringement decision under section 68(1) of the Act.  However, the organisation or person must comply with the requirements mentioned above, i.e. it must fully cooperate with the CCS' investigations, refrain from further participation in the cartel unless otherwise directed by the CCS and it must not have been an instigator or coercer.  The extent of the reduction will again be a matter for the CCS' discretion, depending on the circumstances of the application.


How Does An Organisation or Person Apply for Leniency?

An organisation or person wishing to avail itself of the leniency programme should take the step of contacting the CCS, either orally or in writing. 
The initial contact may be anonymous, but the organisation or person must reveal its identity before the leniency application can be properly recorded.  This has important implications, in light of the fact that the organisation's or person's place in the queue determines the degree of the leniency granted.

The organisation or person must provide the CCS with all the evidence relating to the suspected infringement available to it and/or present a list of the evidence that it proposes to disclose at a specified later date, with a description of the nature and contents of this evidence.

The CCS will endeavour to keep the identity of all leniency applicants confidential throughout the course of investigations, until the written notice under section 68(1) is issued.

Email us, indicating 'Leniency Application' in the subject heading, at: ccs_feedback@ccs.gov.sg 

For more details, please refer to the CCS Guideline on Lenient Treatment for organisations or person(s) coming forward with information on cartel activity cases.