The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission (CCC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (‘MoU’) with the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Inter-Government Group of Experts meeting that took place from 18th July 2022 to 22nd July 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, although the information was only made public today.
The goal of the MoU is to promote cooperation between the two institutions in the areas of competition policy and competition law enforcement, the CCC said in a press release.
The two institutions intend to cooperate in the exchange of non-confidential information on regional integration, laws, regulations, rules, statistical and informational materials, and other documents related to competition policy and antitrust regulation. The institutions are also expected to cooperate in the exchange of experiences and best practices in competition case investigations and research.
In his remarks, the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the CCC, Dr Willard Mwemba, recognised that:
“A number of anti-competitive conduct tend to be cross-border in nature, affecting multiple jurisdictions and, in some cases, affecting different regions. This was exacerbated by the fact that multi-national companies by their nature operate in multiple jurisdictions and in some cases across regions and the increased usage of information communication technology tools, more prominently the digital platforms. It has also been realized that the fruits of regional integration cannot be realized if anti-competitive conduct continue to prevail in regional blocs such as the Eurasian Economic Union and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). With this in mind, it is critical for regional competition authorities to cooperate in competition law enforcement in order to address the rising challenges effectively.
It is under this spirit that this Memorandum of Understanding is being signed today. It is expected that under the auspices of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Eurasian Economic Commission and the COMESA Competition Commission will cooperate in addressing anti-competitive conduct in their respective regions, capacity building and research”.
Mr. Arman Shakkaliyev, Minister in charge of Competition and Antitrust Regulation at the EEC noted that the MoU opened up new opportunities for closer interaction between the two institutions. He also noted that the MoU will enable the two institutions to share experiences on investigations of competition cases, holding of joint conferences and training seminars.
The Commission looks forward to working with the EEC in implementing the MoU for the benefit of the citizens of the respective regional blocs.
