dtic: Competition Act amendments

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dtic: Competition Act amendments

• 03 June 2026
• Law
• South African Accounting Academy

Summary:

Effective retrospectively from 1 May 2026, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition has officially gazetted significant amendments to South Africa's merger thresholds and filing fees on behalf of the Competition Commission. 

Article:

These changes aim to reduce the regulatory burden on smaller transactions and allow authorities to focus on high-impact, complex mergers.

Key amendments include:

• Intermediate Mergers: The combined turnover or asset value threshold has increased from R600 million to R1 billion. 
  • The target firm's value threshold has risen from R100 million to R175 million. 
  • The filing fee for these has increased from R165,000 to R220,000.
• Large Mergers: The combined threshold has increased from R6.6 billion to R9.5 billion. 
  • The target firm's value threshold has risen from R190 million to R280 million. 
  • The filing fee has increased from R550,000 to R735,000.
• Breach of Merger Conditions (Rule 39): The Commission repealed and replaced Rule 39. The new regulations stipulate that if a firm breaches a merger condition, the Commission can issue a Request for Compliance (Form CC19) and grant a tailored timeline for the firm to remedy the situation or provide a plan of action.

Access the gazetted adjustments to:

• merger thresholds at https://18a66295-3a0f-41fb-a13d-9849edd3b2a3.usrfiles.com/ugd/18a662_6507221b70084906a91a973223526c29.pdf, and
• filing fees at https://18a66295-3a0f-41fb-a13d-9849edd3b2a3.usrfiles.com/ugd/18a662_17b7d9dfacaa4c00b978beab839493ee.pdf 

Released in draft form in January 2026 for public comment, the adjustments came into force retrospectively on 1 May 2026.

Click here to download the document:

https://18a66295-3a0f-41fb-a13d-9849edd3b2a3.usrfiles.com/ugd/18a662_6507221b70084906a91a973223526c29.pdf 

Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:

• The Competition Act is yet another piece of legislation that your clients must comply with, and which you must assess compliance with.  If they don’t comply with the relevant laws and regulations, you have certain reporting obligations in terms of NOCLAR (NOn-Compliance with Laws And Regulations) – this could include reporting to management, qualifying your audit opinion, reporting a Reportable Irregularity, etc.
• As an auditor and independent reviewer, you also need to assess compliance with guidance issued by the regulator (in this case the Competition Commission).

Relevance to Your clients:

• Merging entities have a duty to comply with the Competition Act, and they also need to adhere to guidance issued by the regulator (in this case the Competition Commission).

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