Bangladesh Country Advocacy Document

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Bangladesh Country Advocacy Document

• Iftekar Ahmed
• Senior Research Fellow, BEI
• September 27, 2005

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Competition Law/Policy in Bangladesh

• No Competition Policy
• Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice
  (Control and Prevention) Ordinance, 1970
• Has not been implemented but still valid
• Ordinance prohibits
• Undue concentration of individual economic power
• Unreasonable monopoly power
• Unreasonable restrictive trade practices

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MRTP Ordinance 1970

• Relevant phrases are not properly explained
• Provides for the creation of a Monopoly Control
  Authority to enforce the provisions of the
  Ordinance, but was never constituted
• Never been implemented
• If revived needs amendments
• Need for a new law

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Most Prevalent Anti-Competitive Practices in
Bangladesh
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Challenges

• Challenges to instituting a competition regime
  are enormous
• No quick and simple remedy that will be
  immediately effective across the board
• Even if a law is drafted, past experiece shows
  poor implementation with weak enforcement

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Develop Constituency

• Targeted stakeholders for advocacy and capacity
  building
• Government
• sensitize and motivate
• Business
• demonstrate benefits of a competition regime
• Media
• galvanize wider public understanding and support
• Consumers
• empower to champion and act as pressure group

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Three-Step Process

• Step 1 Create demand
• Raise awareness of stakeholders
• Step 2 Draft/Amend/Adopt Law
• capacity building of policy makers
• wide consultation
• Step 3 Implementation and enforcement of law
• capacity building of the Competition Authority

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Strategy 1 Target Sectors

• Identify priority sectors
• Selection Criteria
• High visibility
• Wide impact
• Rapid implementation
• Demonstrable benefits

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Strategy 2 Information Cell

• Create an Information Cell and Consumer Hotline
• Monitor abuses of market power
• Generate competition status reports
• Provide dialogue space for stakeholders

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Strategy 3 Consumer Awareness

• Information dissemination
• Conduct training on competition issues

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Strategies
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Create Demand
Draft Law
Implement Law
Strategy 1
Target Sectors
Strategy 2
Information Cell
Strategy 3
Consumer Awareness
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competition regime
Competition Authority
government
Business Assoc.
information cell
Media
informed consumer
civil society