a tripartite report - Unctad
a tripartite report - Unctad
a tripartite report - Unctad
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TANZANIA<br />
Section 96(6) of the Act provides an important caveat<br />
that a person shall not contravene the Act<br />
by reason only of engaging in conduct required in<br />
order to comply with an enactment other than an<br />
enactment referred to under Section 96(3).<br />
It is equally noteworthy that under section 65(2)<br />
(i) of the FCA, the FCC has an exceptional power/<br />
privilege to participate in deliberations and proceedings<br />
of Government, Government commissions,<br />
regulatory authorities and other bodies in<br />
relation to competition and consumer welfare.<br />
This provision assumes that the subject deliberations<br />
and/or proceedings are known by the FCC.<br />
The FCC is yet to exercise this power.<br />
5.4 Research and competition<br />
advocacy<br />
The FCC has carried out research work in the cement<br />
industry to study the competition dynamics<br />
therein and made policy recommendations<br />
to the Minister of Trade which bordered on removing<br />
the barrier of importation of cement into<br />
the United Republic of Tanzania. The FCC has<br />
engaged consultants in some projects but theses<br />
have not produced desirable results. One of<br />
quires<br />
more time to understand competition law<br />
by engaging more with the competition authority<br />
through seminars, workshops and other joint<br />
training sessions. The FCC has generally found research<br />
based advocacy that has been done thus<br />
far using the academia has not brought out or<br />
<br />
its use. A complaint was also made that the FCC<br />
does appear to forget to put required value on<br />
research work. Sector regulators such as EWURA<br />
and TCRA were said to pay far better than the<br />
FCC on research work and their output has not<br />
been a subject of poor quality compared to work<br />
done for the FCC.<br />
The FCC should work closely with the academia<br />
and assist in developing competition and other<br />
related industrial sector studies from which it can<br />
ment.<br />
It is evident then that the FCC may need<br />
to refocus its terms of reference as well as resources<br />
devoted to research undertaken by the<br />
academia.<br />
79<br />
The FCC conducted a study in the cement industry<br />
which addressed the supply and distribution<br />
constraints that required Government attention.<br />
However, considering that at least 70 per cent of<br />
the Tanzanian economy is in the agriculture sector,<br />
the FCC needs to focus on key agriculture sectors<br />
in particular the outgrower schemes for cotton,<br />
coffee and other cash crops involving big multinationals,<br />
which may be engaged in predatory<br />
pricing strategies as well as collusion. It would be<br />
pertinent that FCA be amended to include provisions<br />
on abuse of buyer power, which could then<br />
be used against anticompetitive (abusive) practices<br />
in the agricultural sector in the United Republic<br />
of Tanzania. It may be a problem amongst farmers<br />
that they are effectually compelled to sell cotton,<br />
coffee etc at very low prices due to abusive practices<br />
by enterprises buying from them. The FCC<br />
is yet to carry out a study in any agricultural sector.<br />
Furthermore, another potential problem that<br />
may be experienced amongst farmers may be that<br />
smallholder farmers are forced to sell their basic<br />
crops such as cotton and coffee at very low prices<br />
to large, usually transnational, companies which<br />
have much more negotiating power vis-à-vis small<br />
farmers. Oligopolistic markets where these transnational<br />
companies operate are usually prone<br />
to such practices on the buyer side. Therefore, it<br />
would be a welcome development if the FCA was<br />
amended to include provisions on abuse of buyer<br />
power, which could then be used against such anticompetitive<br />
(abusive) practices in the agricultural<br />
sector in the United Republic of Tanzania.<br />
6.0 INTERNATIONAL<br />
COOPERATION AND<br />
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE<br />
6.1 International Cooperation<br />
The FCC has been an active participant member<br />
in most international and regional organizations<br />
dealing with competition policy. These are:<br />
(i) The Southern and Eastern Africa Competition<br />
Forum (SEACF), of which it is a founding<br />
member. The FCC has been engaged in<br />
bilateral training programmes with the Zambia<br />
Competition Commission (now Competition<br />
and Consumer Protection Commission) and<br />
the Kenya Competition Commission, and<br />
TANZANIA