COMESA Competition Commission’s 10-year scorecard

The body has increased its efforts in regulating competition and consumer protection within the common market

Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission on May 4 turned 10 years of operation with various activities held in Lilongwe, Malawi.

CCC was established on January 14, 2013, as a body for COMESA to enforce the provisions of the regulations concerning trade between member states and promote competition within the common market through monitoring and investigating anti-competitive practices of undertakings and mediating disputes between member states concerning anti-competitive conduct.

COMESA has a membership of 21 countries including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, DRC, Egypt, Somalia, Libya, Malawi, Zambia and others.

Successful journey

Speaking to slightly over 500 delegates from Africa and beyond, CCC CEO Willard Mwemba, described the 10 years as a successful journey despite having encountered some challenges.

He said CCC has since increased its efforts in regulating competition and consumer protection within the common market with a major focus on merger control, restrictive business practices, and consumer protection.

He said the commission has investigated slightly over 360 merger cases and the companies involved, derived an aggregate turnover of over US$210 billion in the common market representing the amount of business generated from the common market.

“It is evident that the commission’s regulatory role can have cost implications on businesses which reinforces the need to be sensitive to the impact of any delays in the Commission’s enforcement efforts,” he said.

Concerning the investigation of restrictive business practices, Mwemba said, the commission has investigated slightly over 40 cases including the “Investigation into Agreements between the Confédération Africaine de Football, Lagardere Sports SAS, Orange SA and TOTAL SA relating to the commercialization of marketing rights for CAF competitions” and as well the investigation into resale price maintenance by The Coca-Cola Company among others. He said the commission has also investigated around 44 consumer cases.

“Notable among these cases include the investigation into unfair terms and conditions on the Jumia online platform. The commission engaged Jumia on the incompatibility of their terms and conditions to the COMESA Competition Regulations, and they cooperated and reviewed the problematic clauses,” he said.

He said the commission also investigated the conduct of Malawi Airlines in 2022 following complaints from passengers aboard a flight from Johannesburg to Blantyre.

Malawi Airlines had due to bad weather, re-routed the Blantyre passengers to Lilongwe, Kamuzu International Airport, and accommodated them at the Sunbird Capital Hotel. However, they were left to find their way from Lilongwe to Blantyre.

“The Airline was engaged and it agreed to compensate all the affected passengers for the disruption of their journey,” he said.

The commission has also undertaken product recalls and published alerts with regard to defective and unsafe products distributed in the common market which were declared unfit for consumption or use by consumers, according to Mwemba.

Challenges

Mwemba said the commission encountered several challenges such as limited human and financial resources; lack of stakeholder awareness of the COMESA Competition Commission’s jurisdiction on regional competition and consumer protection matters; absence of clear guidelines on implementational aspects of the regional competition law.

Simplex Chithyola, the Minister of Trade and Industry of Malawi revealed that the government has given land to CCC to construct its headquarters to facilitate its work. He said the government will also continue to back all activities of CCC to create opportunities for the local Malawi people and the entire COMESA economy.

According to figures on the COMESA website, the market bloc has a total population of slightly over 583 million, a Gross Domestic Product of $805 billion, and a global export/import trade in goods worth US$ 324 billion.

Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, the Secretary-General for COMESA said, the creation of CCC was to mitigate risks of unfair business conduct and exploitation of consumers by unscrupulous businesses which engage in strategies to drive out competitors from the market to maximise their profits and to divide the common market, which is inimical to the single market imperative of the COMESA treaty.

She said COMESA is one of the regional economic communities with the most advanced trade facilitation and regional integration instruments.

“Therefore, as we seek even deeper levels of integration at the continental level through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, COMESA is glad to share the experiences it has gained in the over 40 years of existence,” Kapwepwe said.

At the regional level, Kapwepwe said, COMESA will continue to work tirelessly to deepen the economic integration of member states, a precursor to continental integration as espoused in the Abuja Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community.

George Lipimile, the former CEO of CCC applauded the current management of the commission for keeping the organization running and enforcing health competition rules that are critical for growing the COMESA economy.

Going forward, Mwemba said, they plan to incorporate strategies on climate change, sustainability, and digitization in their operations.