UNCTAD
AFRICA COMPETITION
May 2009
The Africa Competition
Programme (AFRICOMP)
BRIEF ON THE AFRICOMP PROGRAMME
I. What is AFRICOMP?
In response to the mandate given under the Accra Accord, the Competition Programme for Africa
(AFRICOMP) is a new initiative by the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD aimed
at helping African countries develop appropriate administrative, institutional and legal structures for
effective enforcement of competition and consumer laws and policies. The programme provides for a
more coordinated and rationalized approach in providing technical assistance in accordance with the
needs of each particular recipient country. It provides for a multi facet approach which systematically
matches countries according to their special needs.
The programme encourages increased partnerships with other international organizations and agencies
and interaction with regional organizations and civil society. It emphasizes beneficiaries’ ownership
and the demand – driven aspect of technical cooperation. The programme further seeks to establish
closer links with the private sector and more especially with NGOs and local learning institutions.
II. Development Partners
The program provides for a “pool – basket” funding system into which donors and cooperating partners
intending and interested in assisting African countries contribute. The sources of funding for the
programme are diverse; they shall include bilateral donors, UNDP and the United Nations Development
Account.
III. UNCTAD’s Mandate and Experience in Technical Assistance and Capacity Building
UNCTAD’s technical cooperation activities are a significant element in achieving the objectives and policies
outlined in the Sao Paulo Consensus adopted by the Conference at its eleventh session, held in Sao
Paulo (Brazil) in June 2004. The Consensus represents the practical manifestation of the organization’s
commitment to national, regional and global development, exploiting the interrelationships between
policy analysis, intergovernmental deliberations and operational activities. This was emphasized by
Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, at the Fifth UN Conference on Restrictive
Business Practices in 2005 when he said:
UNCTAD can provide a crucial contribution to efforts to move forward in this area, because of the unique
role it plays in two respects:
Pursuant to its mandate under the Set, UNCTAD is the sole universal organization working in the
competition area. It does so through a blend of analytical work, capacity-building activities and
consensus-building within an intergovernmental framework open to all UN Member States.
More broadly, UNCTAD focuses on the interface between trade and development and on strengthening
the development partnership. The aim is to ensure that domestic policies and international action are
mutually supportive in bringing about sustainable development.
Further, the General Affairs and External Relations Council of the European Union made the following
recommendations on 15 October 2007:
UNCTAD appears to be the appropriate forum to continue to discuss competition issues on the
UNCTAD
multilateral level, with close linkages to existing networks of competition authorities. UNCTAD has long-standing experience in
providing advice and technical assistance to developing countries on competition matters. The EU therefore supports the work
UNCTAD has done in this field, promoting the use of competition law and policy as tools for achieving domestic and international
competitiveness, and would like to see UNCTAD’s role confirmed at and beyond UNCTAD XII.
UNCTAD work in this area should promote competition law regimes that accommodate the special needs of developing countries,
and which take into account the prevailing economic conditions in these countries. Competition authorities in developing
countries should also benefit from better coordinated and coherent technical assistance and capacity building activities, and
UNCTAD could play an important role in this, together with the other appropriate international and regional organizations.»
IV. Why AFRICOMP?
Many countries in Africa have come to realize the value of competition as a tool for spurring innovation, economic growth, and
the economic well – being of its citizens. This realization is evident in the economic liberalization that is taking place in one form
or another in all African countries. There is now recognition by countries under going economic reforms that competition policy
can assist to facilitate economic liberalization. If working properly, competition policy can produce more goods and services
from scarce resources and provide a set of rules and disciplines that are not based on privilege and that are conducive to and
responsive to efficient market behavior. The policy makers are in agreement on the fact that competition in free markets – that
is, markets that operate without either private or governmental anticompetitive restraints – forces enterprises to lower prices,
improve quality, and innovate. Competitive markets also drive an economy’s resources towards their fullest and most efficient
uses, thereby providing a fundamental basis for economic development. In Africa, an effective enforcement of a competition
policy system is expected to facilitate the process by which innovative, cutting-edge technologies replace the usually less efficient
productive capacities now in use on the continent. The market forces are expected to continuously prod the local enterprises to
innovate – that is, to develop new products, services, methods of doing business, and technologies – that will enable them to
compete more successfully on national, regional and international markets. Above all, a flexible competitive economy shall lead
to the creation of wealth, thus making possible improved living standards, alleviation of poverty, and greater prosperity.
Despite the recognition of the benefits of competition policy by the African countries, the formulation and the adoption of
competition rules by individual countries has continued to lag behind. Most if not, the African countries face many daunting
obstacles in coming up with competition rules. Even those countries which have succeeded in enacting competition laws are still
facing many challenges in the effective implementation and enforcement of the competition laws. The obstacles and challenges
have manifested themselves in several forms depending on the given country: Historically, concerns by countries over issues of
sovereignty have led to some combination of legal, practical, and in some cases political impediments to the establishment and
enforcement of competition laws.
What needs to be done in a country will depend on factors such as: whether the country in question has competition and
consumer protection legislation; whether it has a functioning competition authority and whether there is need to amend existing
laws or enact new laws in order to comply with regional objectives and obligations on competition policy. In countries which
have the required legislation and institutions, there is still the need for strengthening the capacity of existing institutions. Special
attention shall be drawn to the fact that countries in Africa have highly varied economic circumstances and legal environment
(common and civil law systems). Therefore, each country needs tailor-made solutions to accommodate different stages of
development of competition and consumer policies.
V. New Approach to Technical Assistance Delivery System to Africa
The AFRICOMP draws on the vast experience accumulated and the lessons learnt over the years by UNCTAD in delivering
technical assistance to developing countries. It brings in a consultative approach which focuses on the country`s requirements
and working very closely with the local experts and officials in a given country. It focuses on building and creating local expertise
which shall continue with the implementation of the programme. The primary focus of the programme is to stay in a given country
no longer than necessary, but to hand over the programme at a convenient time to the locals. Higher priority shall be given to the
activities that shall directly result in the enactment of the law and the establishment of a competition authority.
In this regard, AFRICOMP shall pay due regard to the design, delivery mechanisms and evaluation processes of technical
assistance programs that are country specific. To achieve this, the programme shall be, inter alia, development – oriented,
demand – driven and transparent, taking into account the priorities and special needs of each country, as well as the different
levels of development of each recipient and the activities shall in all instances include time frames for completion.
The key institutions in the consultative process are the National Project Coordinator (NPC) and the Programme Management
Committee (PMC) in every country of our operation. The two institutions shall play a crucial role in determining the special needs
of each particular country; ensuring successful, timely and cost-effective implementation of all project activities at the national
level, and propose changes in those activities, where necessary.
VI. Types of Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building
The technical assistance shall usually feature long term (periods of months or years) or short term (days or weeks) advisory
missions by UNCTAD experts or other international experts. The advice may focus on specific concerns of the recipient agency
through one-to-one discussions, workshops, and lectures. Under the programme, there shall also be exchange among countries
through internships and study visits. Technical assistance on a multilateral or regional basis may be carried out through the
pooling of human and financial resources, staff exchange among peers, clustering of countries according to their special needs
and participation in conferences and symposia.
The programme further recognizes that competition laws as they are enacted in African countries must keep pace with
developments in the business world. African markets are affected by business changes, especially as technological innovation
and global economic integration alter the competitive forces at work in particular markets. To protect competition and consumer
welfare, AFRICOMP will build capacities and competences in African countries to
take into account these changes with the
necessary flexibility, while maintaining clear administrable rules of competition enforcement. Other activities will include:
• Drafting of competition law and related regulations
• Setting up competition agencies
• Training of case handlers and judges
It is important for African countries that the rules of competition must be economically sound and flexible enough to accommodate
new economic learning and changes in the nature of competition. The adopted competition rules should also be clear, predictable,
and administrable, so that businesses can comply with them and courts can enforce them.
Effective implementation of competition law and policy in Africa requires the adoption of national competition legislations and
the establishment of strong competition authorities in every country which fit in the national economic, judicial and administrative
structure. Besides national policies on competition and consumer protection, there is a move towards establishing a regional
competition regime in many sub-regional groupings in Africa. The challenge at the regional level is to bring member states to one
single platform to encourage them to discuss the problems arising from anti-competitive practices undertaken throughout Africa
and to seek common solutions by putting the regional interest in front of their national interests. This process requires strong
regional institutions with sufficient powers to handle anti-competition cases.
Considering the importance of regional integration in Africa, AFRICOMP shall also carry out activities aimed at strengthening
regional institutions such as, COMESA, EAC, ECOWAS, SACU, SADC and WAEMU. These institutions have provisions which call
for the implementation of a regional competition regime. Due to inadequate human and financial resources, the implementation
of competition law and policy at regional level has not materialized.
The significant focus of AFRICOMP shall involve conducting staff training on specific methods of competition analysis, investigative
techniques, and prosecutorial or enforcement skills and procedures. Other efforts shall involve educating policy makers, the
judiciary, the business community, and the general public about the role of competition policy in promoting the operations of
markets and protecting consumers against anticompetitive interests. Depending on the results of the needs assessment and the
specific requests from the country concerned, AFRICOMP shall among other assignments, advise on writing or implementing
competition laws and related regulations or policies; help the recipient competition authority to define its role in initiating
investigations; or provide consultative assistance on regulations and amendments to existing competition law that will enhance
its enforcement efforts. This Programme aims at building and strengthening the capacity of national and regional institutions to
start competition law enforcement not only at the national but also at the regional level.
VII. How to Obtain Technical Assistance from AFRICOMP?
Any African State member of UNCTAD or a regional institution wishing to obtain technical cooperation from UNCTAD should
submit a request in writing, with an indication of the nature and contents of the assistance required to:
Competition and Consumer Policies Branch
UNCTAD
Palais des Nations, 8-14 Av. de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: +4122-9175494
Fax: +4122-9170247
E-mail: [email protected]