Notices, enforcement and the making of the Hong Kong Competition Ordinance

Created by the Hong Kong competition ordinance 2012 (Ordinance), the infringement notice and the warning notice are novel tools of competition law enforcement. Their use, however, involves serious tradeoffs. On the one hand, the notices promote a speedier, more flexible and cheaper resolution of investigations in competition law cases. On the other hand, they may curtail deterrent effects while injecting greater discretion and uncertainty into the enforcement