ZIMBABWE need to review its competition policy to ensure that gaps in the legislation are addressed, officials have said.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA Speaking at a workshop in Harare yesterday on the draft competition policy for Zimbabwe, Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) chairman Dumisani Sibanda said there was need for a regulation that would act as a referee because in some economies, the competition commission would be in a dominant position to abuse others.
The United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) lead consultant, Allan Mlulla, said the objectives of the draft policy would be to address problems related to the control of mergers and acquisition cartels and misuse of market power in key sectors.
He recommended that there should be a comprehensive competition policy for Zimbabwe. The policy will provide guidance on treatment of social, economic and legal issues facing Zimbabwe competition legal framework.
Mlulla said currently, there was no regulation to provide deadline for the authority to assess a merger.
“The economy is dominated by monopoly and the current legal framework lacks a comprehensive definition of dominance. There is lack of clarity on what constitutes the issue of dominance,” he said.
Mlulla said despite Zimbabwe being part of supernatural competition bodies such as the Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa and Sadc, the country does not recognise them.
Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha said the competition policy would cut across all sectors of the economy and was interwoven with the industrial and trade policies.
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He said it would go a long way in buttressing efforts to turnaround the economy under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
“Competition policy refers to the gamut of government measures to preserve or promote competition in domestic markets. Where there is competition, businesses are under constant pressure to offer the best possible range of goods, at the best possible range of prices, thereby widening consumer choice, promoting enterprise efficiency and encouraging innovation,” Bimha said in a speech read on his behalf.
Government introduced Competition law in 1996 and the Competition and Tariff Commission was put in place in 2001 as the implementing agency of the law.
Bimha said with funding from the European Union and technical assistance from UNCTAD, the CTC proceeded to engage a consultant to draft the policy.
