a tripartite report - Unctad

ZAMBIA
Consumer Policy and Law Committee (CCOPOLC)
has been established to implement the system of
cooperation. The competition authority of Zambia
actively participates in that Committee.
The CCOPOLC meets at least once a year to enable
SADC member States to exchange views on the
status of competition and consumer policy in their
respective countries. The Committee is currently
pre-occupied with the harmonization of national
competition laws in the region. Capacity building is
one of the key components of the regional competition
policy programme to facilitate the development
and implementation of competition and consumer
laws and policies in member States. In that regard,
member States have cooperated with each other in
the application of competition and consumer protection
laws. So far, Seychelles, Swaziland, and Namibia
have been given technical assistance under
the SADC programme in the establishment of their
competition authorities. The technical assistance
was given by the other older competition authorities
in the region, those of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Regional training workshops on competition law
and policy are also a regular feature of the SADC
competition cooperation programme. The fourth
such workshop was held in Gaborone, Botswana in
June 2011. The main purpose of the workshop was
to impart the requisite practical skills necessary to
effectively enforce national competition laws, foster
dialogue, share enforcement experience and best
practices. It was facilitated by regional and international
resource persons who led discussions and
presented on key topics, such as: (i) essentials of the
investigative process; (ii) abuse of dominance; (iii)
intellectual property and competition policy; and
(iv) competition policy and consumer welfare.
The competition authority of Zambia is a founding
member of the Southern and East African Competition
Forum (SEACF). At its formation in 2002, the
countries (Kenya, South Africa, the United Republic
of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). It has since
grown to include those countries in the region that
have adopted competition policies and laws, and
established competition authorities (i.e., Botswana,
Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and Swaziland)
The primary objectives of the Forum include
close cooperation between its members on
general competition policy issues, cooperation in
respect of investigations, assisting each other on
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capacity building, and formulating common positions,
where possible, on competition policy and
law discussions in international forums. The Zambian
competition authority has always been in the
Executive Committee of the Forum, and currently
holds the chairmanship.
SEACF has however not been very active in the
undertaking of its programmes, apart from holding
periodic meetings with the assistance of UNC-
TAD back-to-back with annual meetings of the Intergovernmental
Group of Experts on Competition
Law and Policy (IGE) in Geneva, mainly because of
lack of funding. The older members of the Forum,
particularly the competition authorities of South
Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, have however
individually assisted the newer members in the
handling of competition cases. The establishment
of the African Competition Forum (ACF) puts the
continued existence of SEACF in doubt.
The Zambian competition authority has been actively
involved in the formation of the ACF right
from the inception of that cooperation programme,
and is in the Steering Committee of the Forum.
At a bilateral level, the former ZCC, and now the
CCPC, has informally cooperated with a number
of other competition authorities, particularly in
exchange of information, case handling, and staff
exchanges. The cooperation has mainly been with
the following competition authorities: the Bun-
Kingdom, the Norwegian Competition Authority,
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission,
the Competition Commission South Africa,
the Namibian Competition Commission, the
Competition and Tariff Commission of Zimbabwe,
the Monopolies and Prices Commission of Kenya,
the Competition and Fair Trading Commission of
Malawi, the Fair Competition Commission of the
United Republic of Tanzania, to name just a few.
6.2 Technical Assistance
The Zambian competition authority has received
valuable technical assistance from various cooperating
partners since its inception. In that regard,
UNCTAD’s capacity building and technical
assistance programme has played a prominent
role.
ZAMBIA