Most advanced and high performance regulatory agencies have service standards which facilitates both internal productivity and external service delivery expectations. Importantly service standards should at all times be realistic and in all instances measurable and achievable.
During March 2002 the Mergers & Acquisitions Division of the Competition Commission published and presented service standards to the business community which aim to indicate in advance the likely outputs which could be expected in finalising cases.
These standards were reviewed in March 2010 in order to bring them in line with the changed regulatory environment (new merger thresholds) as well as the resources available to the division. The division further recognised that the nature and complexity of merger activity has increased over time and is likely to be a contributing factor to the failure to meet the current service standards.
Due to the growing volumes in the number of mergers notified and the increasing complexity of investigations, the Commission has not been able to meet some of the 2010 service standards – especially for phase 3 large mergers. In 2015, the Commission revised the service standards, to manage service delivery expectations of stakeholders.