Iran
Answer ... Claimants that wish to initiate competition litigation should calculate the damages that they have incurred with the help of experts and accountants.
According to Article 48 of the Electronic Commerce Act, class action consumers can choose to pursue class action litigation for anti-competitive conduct in the e-commerce sector. A claimant in a competition dispute in this sector can avail of this approach and jointly bring a claim to court with several other claimants.
On the other hand, large and medium-sized companies should comply with the Competition Law when dealing with and exchanging sensitive information with competitors, customers and suppliers.
In addition, companies with a dominant position should ensure that they do not abuse it.
Companies should also conduct merger control checks before participating in any M&A activity. Foreign companies should obtain a foreign investment licence in Iran for merger, acquisition and joint venture agreements in order to enjoy protection as Iranian investors.
One particular pitfall is that the Competition Council (CC) cannot enforce its decisions. Instead, these decisions must be executed in the public court, which is a lengthy procedure.
Furthermore, certain punishments applied by the CC are not prohibitory and the claimant cannot rely on the CC itself to compensate for the damages. For instance, Article 61(12) of the Competition Law introduces cash penalties of up to IRR 1 billion for abuse of a dominant power by companies. This amount can be modified every three years according to the Executive Bylaw on Research, Investigations, Complaints Handling and Enforcing Anti-competitive Decisions. However, given the considerable turnover of large and dominant companies, this penalty is not considered to be prohibitive for the infringer.