Competition Act under review

Giving a brief overview of the activities of the Namibia Competition Commission recently, Mihe Gaomab II, Chief Executive Officer said that the Commission is at work developing a Competition Policy and a Retail Code of Conduct while notably reviewing the Competition Act.
“This year, the Namibia Competition Commission has adopted a strategic plan which sets the Commission’s priorities over the next five years. These priorities have been arrived at after a thorough analysis of the changing conditions in which the Commission operates and drawing on the lessons learnt over the past five years of its existence,” Gaomab said.
Motivating the need for changes to the Competition Act, Gaomab said, “due to challenges experienced in the enforcement of the competition law over the previous years, the Commission has identified the need to review the Competition Act, No. 2 of 2003, to bring it in line with international best practices in a manner that is relevant to the national context.”
The competition bill Gaomab said was approved by the Board of Commissioners and is due to be submitted to the Minister of Trade, Industrialisation and SME Development for finalisation. “This bill is aimed to increase the scope and powers of enforcement and market enquiries, amongst others” he said.
Another activity the Commission is involved in is the development of a National Competition Policy and a Retail Code of Conduct. Said Gaomab, “the development of the National Competition Policy is also underway, with a final draft policy in place to be workshopped with stakeholders in 2016.”
Added Gaomab, “The Board of Commissioners has approved the Retail Code of Conduct which will form part of the Retail Sector Charter under the Namibia Trade Forum. The code focusses particularly on groceries retail and addresses relationships that exist within groceries retail including issues of information sharing, the nature of agreements between parties as well as general issues of compliance with the Namibia Competition Act.”
Rounding off, Gaomab said, “going forward, ensuring compliance, research, stakeholder engagement and capacity building, remain a priority on the Commission’s agenda.”