NaCC submits itself to efficiency test

The Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) is currently undergoing a voluntary peer review exercise conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Meant to assist developing countries in adopting and enforcing effective competition law and policy, the NaCC is the fourth national competitions commission in the SADC region to submit itself to a peer review, following Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The director of Zimbabwe’s Competition and Tariff Commission, Alex Kububa, is currently in Namibia on a weeklong visit, speaking to various stakeholders in the NaCC’s operations. Kububa said he has sought comment from NaCC staff, various law firms who filed mergers it has dealt with, people who have lodged complaints with the NaCC on competition matters, and with the Polytechnic of Namibia. He also met members of the media yesterday to enquire about their perceptions of the competition regulator in terms of effectiveness, openness and overall competence. Other entities to be visited this week include the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI), other regulators such as the Bank of Namibia, the Electricity Control Board (ECB) and the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran), and consumer groups. “UNCTAD initiated the organisation of ad hoc voluntary peer reviews on competition law and policy with a view to ensure coherence between overall governmental approaches to privatisation and liberalisation of trade and investment regimes,” Kububu told the media. “Such reviews provide an ideal forum to appraise how economic reforms can promote development and ensure that markets work for the poor,” he said. Kububa said his visit would culminate in a report to be submitted to UNCTAD, which may be used in formulating recommendations on how the application of competition legislation may be made more effective at national and regional levels. WINDHOEK DENVER ISAACS