Biography: Competition Economics

Ng Ee-Kia is the head of competition and regulatory economics in Drew & Napier LLC. She is trained in both competition law and economics, and has completed postgraduate college diploma courses in EC competition law and economics for competition law, as well as a Master of Laws.

The International Who's Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists 2010 to 2012 and The Guide to the World's Leading Competition & Antitrust Lawyers/Economists 2010 and 2012 (9th and 10th editions) recognise Ee-Kia as a leading competition economist in Singapore. Prior to joining Drew & Napier, Ee-Kia spent 10 years at various regulatory agencies working extensively on regulatory and competition matters. She was director of economics at the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS), where she was responsible for developing policy frameworks and guidelines as well as conducting economic analysis in assessing notifications and investigation of competition cases. Before that, she worked at the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore and the Hong Kong Office of Telecommunications Authority.

Some noteworthy projects that Ee-Kia has worked on at the CCS include developing the Singapore merger framework and the accompanying guidelines, and the first block exemption order in Singapore for the maritime industry. She led the economic assessment in major cases, including the notifications filed by British Airways and Qantas, and Visa International on its multilateral interchange fee arrangement.

In the area of telecommunications, Ee-Kia has worked on a wide array of matters ranging from the full liberalisation of the telecommunications industry, the formulation of the Telecommunications Competition Code (the first comprehensive piece of competition-related regulation in Singapore) and the Singapore consolidation guidelines, to a margin squeeze investigation in the Hong Kong market.

Since joining Drew & Napier, Ee-Kia has advised on a wide range of matters. She recently represented Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia to successfully obtain a positive decision from the CCS in respect of their proposed alliance agreement. She also obtained a positive decision for All Nippon Airways, Continental and United Airlines in relation to their trans-Pacific joint venture agreement, and a Phase II merger approval from the CCS for Seagate's proposed acquisition of Samsung's hard disk drive business.

Ee-Kia assists sectoral regulators regularly as well. She continues to assist the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) as it implements its landmark regulatory remedy targeting at exclusive content. She recently completed a study for the MDA that proposes recommendations on the appropriate regulatory framework for managing a competitive media market. In 2010, Ee-Kia completed a study commissioned by the CCS to assess the implications of fee guidelines for medical services. Based on the findings, the CCS rejected the use of fee guidelines in the medical services sector. This decision was instrumental in providing the industry guidance on the CCS's treatment of fee guidelines. She also worked on numerous sectoral appeals against competition-related decisions.

Ee-Kia also assists clients to comply with the competition law requirements in ASEAN countries. She is presently assisting companies operating in ASEAN with competition law audits and compliance training.

Ee-Kia is a regular contributor of articles to different publications and has authored two chapters in Competition Law and Policy in Singapore, the first comprehensive competition law textbook commissioned by the Singapore Academy of Law.