Achievements and Shortcomings

1
Achievements and Shortcomings

• 7Up3 Project
• Brainstorming at the Regional Conference
• Addis Ababa, 27 March 2006

2
Some Achievements

• Government/Regulatory Authorities
• Established good working relationship with the
  competition authorities of Ethiopia, Malawi,
  Namibia.
• Good connections also established with senior
  officials of the Ministry of Trade and Industry
  of Mozambique (expected to draft a Competition
  Policy soon) and the Trade and Industry Minister
  of Botswana (Botswana is getting its competition
  law drafted now).

3
Some Achievements

• Civil Society
• Able to generate a great amount of interest among
  researcher and activists in the region
  (especially in the project countries) to work on
  competition policy issues.
• Civil society organisations (partners) have taken
  a pro-active lead on the issue at the national
  level

4
Some Achievements

• Regional Outreach
• The findings from competition research done in
  the project countries shared with various key
  personalities within and outside the region.
• Extensive electronic outreach of the activities
  of the project within the region and outside

5
Realisations

• Lot of interest among civil society organisations
  of Eastern and Southern Africa on competition
  policy and law issues
• Identified constituency of researchers and
  activists interested to undertake research and
  advocacy activities on competition policy and law

6
Realisations

• Project initiated detailed research on the
  competition scenario in seven countries of
  eastern and southern Africa a rare feat that
  has not been attempted before

7
Realisations

• Governments/competition authorities in project
  countries realising the need for implementing
  competition laws, and adopting new laws wherever
  absent
• Botswana Competition Policy tabled and
  discussed in the Parliament. In the process of
  drafting a Competition Law
• Ethiopia The Trade Practice Investigation
  Commission keen to implement the Trade Practice
  Proclamation (Commission staff to undergo
  training on competition law implementation issues
  in end-March 2006)

8
Realisations

• Malawi Malawi Competition Authority has
  established its Secretariat and has already
  started with some initial investigation
• Mauritius A Competition Bill has recently
  (early March 2006) been circulated in the country
• Mozambique In the process of developing a
  Competition Policy. A senior official in the MTI
  has been given the responsibility (Louis Eduardo
  Sitoe, a close friend and supporter of CUTS)

9
Realisations

• Namibia The Namibian Competition Commission has
  also been active. Members of the Commission have
  been participating in international conferences
  on Competition Policy as a part of capacity
  building
• Uganda The Competition Bill expected to be
  adopted soon

10
Shortcomings

• Lack of effective participation of regional
  authorities (SADC, COMESA) in the project (No
  participation in the 2 international
  conferences). EAC has shown a lot of interest in
  the project.
• Low level of interaction with the
  national/regional press. Mauritius Namibia and
  Uganda being exceptions.

11
Shortcomings

• Difficulty in getting news from project countries
  related to competition issues, consumer
  protection and regulatory aspects.
• Delays in transfer of funds from CUTS has
  sometimes led to delays in project activities.

12
Lessons for future

• Strategies should be identified for involving the
  regional authorities to get involved with the
  project.
• Partners should cooperate with the PCMU to find
  out news items from the project countries.
• Partners should also try and engage effectively
  with the national press, as this would help in
  advocacy the main activity of the next phase of
  the project.

13
The Good News

• Lot of discussions at various international
  platforms for the urgent need to encourage
  greater involvement of civil society in
  competition awareness and advocacy in developing
  and least developed countries.
• Indicates there is a great prospect for the civil
  society to engage effectively on the above
  subjects

14
A few suggestions

• Partner agencies should try and identify a
  project idea in their home countries and prepare
  a proposal. CUTS will help.
• Identify a Plan of Action in each of the
  project countries for the Advocacy Phase of the
  project