BIPA and Competition Commission ink agreement to support competition regulation and policy development
The Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC) and the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the sharing of data pertaining to activities of business establishments, especially those dealing in restrictive business practices and the competitiveness of industries.
Vitalis Ndalikokule, Chief Executive Officer of the NaCC said this strategic partnership will facilitate them in their strategic vision to conduct action-oriented research on competition to support competition regulation and policy development.
Vivienne Katjiuongua, Chief Executive Officer of BIPA stated that, having regard to the distinct yet complimentary mandates, it is clear that BIPA and NaCC cannot do without a smart and strategic partnership that will enable the sharing of data within their systems, subject of course to privacy and confidentiality as may be entrenched within Namibian Law.
The NaCC, in terms of its enabling legislation, deals with mergers and acquisitions, restrictive business practices and economic research, therefore they will share related data and information with BIPA to ensure cross compliance of information provided by business entities. While BIPA will make available data within its control that may be required by the NaCC to further enhance their role as a regulator in the competition arena and the sharing of key data will remain subject to privacy and confidential provisions in the law.
NaCC has developed a microeconomic database as a market intelligence tool and would therefore rely on BIPA to feed critical information to enable the database to become an effective tool.
The basis of the agreement between the two entities, how data on a global level has become a much sought-after commodity and organisations now, more than ever value the use of data to design more targeted solution and rely on data informed decision making.
The agreement will remain in force for an indefinite period or until such a time when another agreement supersedes the existing one.
