ZAMBIA AIRPORT CORPORATION LIMITED FINED OVER ABUSE OF DOMINANCE.

The Consumer Competition and Protection Commission (CCPC) has fined the Zambia Airport Corporation Limited 3 percent of its annual turnover for violation for violation of section 16 (1) and (2) (C) CCPC Act for the abuse of dominance when it denied another company called ZEGA access to CUTE network, a facility for load control, and charging them US 300 each time they attended to client airline.

The corporation was fined by CCPC following a compliant from ZEGA on 12th and 17th August 2015 that it denied access to the CUTE network which an an essential facility for loading control via ZEGA offices and installations, a system required for purpose of determining weight and balancing aircrats.

It is also alleged that ZACL was accused of charging Ramp Access Fee of close to US 300 each time it attended to a client airline and that ZEGA had an option of either transferring the cost to the airline or internalizing it making its operations expensive.

The corporation is accused of having sought to impose restriction on the use of check in counters for load control and sought to impose a charge on ZEGA after limiting from 6 check-in counters to 4.

It is further alleged that the corporation did not handle cargo themselves and that when they were awarded a tender to handle an airline, they sub-contracted the cargo component and that it only gave the cargo element to NAC 2000 limited which might have been a breach of tender regulations.

ZEGA believed that ZACL had given KLM airline a two year contract of ground handling free of charge, a move that amounted to applying dissimi;ar condition to equivalent transactions.

 And CCPC executive Director Chilufya Sampa said after having considered that fats and findings of the case, the board of commissioners at its 20^th board meeting for adjudication of cases held this month decided to slapped a 3 percent fine of its annual turnover for violation of section 16(2) (C) allegations of abuse of dominance on the Zambia Airport Corporation Limited.

In a letter to the Airports Corporation Managing Director, Mr. Sampa warned the corporation to desist from abusing its dominant position of market power and from issuing threats to operators in the market.

He further directed the corporation to normalize the charges and trading conditions to both client ah-Jites and ZEGA Limited to a manner that does not affect trade or result in discrimination.

Mr. Sampa further revealed that Board observed that ZACL was dominant and had market power and its ability to apply differential rates to airline clients and ground handlers for equivalent transactions was a violation of Section 16(1) and Section 16(2)(c) of the Act.

Its observed that threats to withdraw concessions from Zambezi Airlines though now dysfunctional and the application of excessive charges to ZEGA Limited for water and the handling of Emirates airlines constituted an abuse of dominance as it had an effect on how these enterprises trade and the economy in general.