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MEDIA – August 2007
ASEAN
insists on fair competition
Viet Nam News, August
14, 2007
Govt mulls
retail regulator to level playing field
The Financial Express, August 10, 2007
Namibia:
Progress Made in Competition Act to Be Promulgated
New Era (Windhoek), August 06, 2007
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ASEAN insists
on fair competition
Viet Nam News, August
14, 2007
HA NOI — Competition law
is one of the most important policies that provides a
foundation for any market economy. A robust framework
for competitive trading is essential if a fair business
environment is to be maintained and economic efficiency
improved.
Customer protection and satisfaction also has to be at
the heart of any competition law.
These points were outlined by Deputy Minister of
Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu who spoke at an
international conference titled "Building an Effective
Regional Competition Institution" in Ha Noi yesterday.
The event was organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of
Industry and Trade, the US Agency for International
Development, the French Adetef agency and Germany GTZ
agency.
The conference, which took place in preparation for the
third annual meeting of the ASEAN Consultative Forum for
Competition, was hosted by Vietnamese officials from
various ministries and agencies.
Representatives from the trade agencies of the ASEAN
countries, officials from the ASEAN Secretariat and from
the Asian Competition Forum and many international
experts also attended.
Addressing the conference, Khu emphasised the importance
of proper mechanisms to enforce regional co-operation in
competition law.
"In the context of deeper integration between the ASEAN
countries, establishing a stronger framework for
co-operation that allows proper enforcement of
competition law to deal with trade disputes is of great
significance," he said.
Experience of anti-dumping and technical trade barriers
should be shared between wealthy nations and those with
less-developed economies, he added.
Stuart Chemtob, special counsel from the US Department
of Justice stressed that co-operation among competition
agencies is becoming increasingly important. He said:
"Market integration at a bilateral or regional level can
be fostered by convergent competition policies."
The need for competition law in the region stems from
the fact that the ASEAN countries have a common market
culture. To create a truly competitive environment to
promote investment in each country, market economies
should be equipped with a legal system supported by
competition law, according to a representative from
Indonesia.
Mohammad Iqbal, Chairman of the Commission for the
Supervision of Business Competition in the Republic of
Indonesia asserted that since the ASEAN crisis of 1997,
most ASEAN countries realised the importance of
competition policy to strengthen economic structures.
However, he also pointed out that there were many
challenges for implementing healthy competition. These
include the different points of view and characteristics
of competition policy and law, the common perception
that competition policy belongs only to developed
countries and the need for a comprehensive approach to
implement competition policies regarding legal
infrastructure, advocacy and human resources.
The fears of losing national identity and sovereignty
are also a barrier to implementing effective competition
law, he said.
Several participants contributed their opinions about
the structure of an effective regional competition
institution.
Alice Pham from Consumer Unity and Trust Society
International emphasised the role of civil societies in
promoting competition culture and competition advocacy
at a regional level.
"The mandate of civil society organisations is to check
the balance between economic and social aspects of
policies and to ensure that issues relating to public
interest and consumer protection are considered
judiciously in competition issues, and to discipline the
behaviour of corporate companies," she said.
Son Stephanie from the International Affairs French
Competition Council identified the key elements for
effective regional organisations. These include a system
of parallel competencies between the regional
institutions and powerful national competition
authorities of the member states.
In Viet Nam, the Competition Law was passed in December
2004 and came into effect on July 1, 2005.
The law prohibits five broad types of anti-competitive
practices. These are competition restriction agreements,
abuse of monopoly, anti-competitive concentrations of
economic power, acts of unhealthy competition, and
anti-competitive behaviours/decisions by officials or
State administrative agencies.
The country’s competition authority system, as
prescribed by the Competition Law 2004, consists of Viet
Nam Competition Council and Viet Nam Competition
Administration Department. —VNS
This
News item can also be viewed at:
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/
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Govt mulls
retail regulator to level playing field
The Financial Express,
August 10, 2007
New Delhi, Aug 9
The government is exploring the possibility of setting
up a new national authority to regulate the $328-billion
retail sector. The proposed regulator will monitor
retail trade and act upon complaints of illegal
practices in areas ranging from procurement to land
acquisition, marketing and servicing.
According to government officials, the proposal is at an
initial stage and needs to be discussed with various
ministries before being taken up by the Cabinet. The
officials admit it is in response to strong political
opposition, including from Left parties, to organised
retail in general and FDI in particular.
The regulator is likely to be either under the purview
of the ministry of commerce & industry or the department
of consumer affairs, the details of which are being
worked out. If the government does set up a regulator,
India could become the only country among its peers to
have one for the retail sector.
“It is imperative to look at the sector from a consumer
and producer perspective. The law on consumer protection
at present provides a redress mechanism that not only
allows handing down preventive orders and compensation.
But nobody looks specifically at the regulatory aspect
of the sector,” an official told FE.
The regulator will look into monopsonistic practices (a
large buyer determining the price and standards at which
small sellers supply to him), predatory behaviour and
abusive dominance. The officials said the regulator
would also look into real estate cornering by large
retail chains to restrict competitor access and
complaints of muscling out smaller retailers by price
undercutting.
“The livelihood of small farmers and other producers is
the issue here. Once a small producer is hooked to a
large retail chain, he can then be pushed around. A
regulator can help prevent such practices. It can then
refer such anti-competitive practices to the Competition
Commission of India,” said Pradeep S Mehta,
secretary-general of Cuts International.
Analysts also pointed out that the sector was already
part regulated by the existing restrictions on FDI. They
said the government’s move might have been prompted by
political compulsions in the run-up to general elections
and agitations against large multinational chains.
However, trade bodies like FICCI believe a regulator is
not needed. Certain sections within the government like
the Planning Commission also do not favour a regulator.
Competition was the best regulator, Planning Commission
deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said.
This
News item can also be viewed at:
http://www.financialexpress.com/ |
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Namibia:
Progress Made in Competition Act to Be Promulgated
New Era (Windhoek),
August 06, 2007
The Minister of
Trade and Industry, Immanuel Ngatjizeko, said last week
that government has made progress in its efforts to
implement the Competition Act, and all that remained was
some logistical and administrative arrangements before
the Act could be promulgated. The minister briefed
participants at a workshop on Competition Policy and Law
organized by the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit
(NEPRU) and the Consumer Unit and Trust Society (CUTS).
"The Competitive policy and Competitive law in Namibia
are governed by the Competition Act, 2003 (Act No.2 of
2003), which will be implemented in the next few
months," he said
"Commissioners have been appointed, and a property has
been leased to serve as the office of the Namibian
Competition Commission. We are now working towards the
appointment of a new chairperson." Namibia's economic
competitiveness was ranked 88th out of 128 countries in
the world, just behind Botswana which was ranked 83,
according to the African Competitiveness Report jointly
published by the African Development Bank (ADB), the
World Bank and the World Economic Forum. The results
were disappointing compared to some of the other 29
African countries that were examined against the global
market. Countries such as Tunisia (29), South Africa
(46), Mauritius (58), and Egypt (65) emerged among the
best economic performers with regard to competitiveness.
"Competition is a good thing, and we should all embrace
it as a very important aspect in the development and
growth of our industries," he urged.
The purpose of the Act is to enhance the promotion of
and to safeguard competition in the country in order to
promote efficiency, adaptability and development of the
country's economy; and also to expand opportunities for
participation by Namibians in the world markets while
recognizing the role of foreign competition in the
country; as well as to provide consumers with
competitive prices and product choices, amongst others.
In addition, the Act would also make certain restrictive
business practices illegal such as restrictive
horizontal practices resulting from agreements between
firms operating at the same level in the product chain,
producing competing goods and services. Such
restrictions, he said, were important as horizontal
acquisitions were clearly the type of activities which
contributed most directly to concentration of economic
power and which were likely to lead to dominant position
of market power, thereby reducing competition
altogether.
"It is not only the consumer who will benefit from
competition policy and law, but the entire economy, too,
stands to gain enormously from protection against the
destructive operations of cartels and abuse of dominant
positions by monopolies.
"Namibia heavily relies on imports which are often
subjected to distorted pricing by import cartels.
Similarly, domestic firms - for example, import cartels
- often penalize the consumer with higher-than-necessary
prices and other forms of abuse of dominance."
This
News item can also be viewed at:
http://allafrica.com/stories/200708061301.html |
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Copyright
2006, CUTS Centre for Competition, Investment & Economic
Regulation (C-CIER)
D-218, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India
Ph: +91.141.2282821, Fax: +91.141.2282733, +91.141.2282485, Email:
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