Parliamentarians benefit from competition law workshop

With the aim of sensitising Members of Parliament (MP’s) on aspects of competition law and policy, the Parliament of Guyana, in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and the Guyana Competition Commission (GCC), hosted a one-day sensitisation workshop on Monday.

The project, funded by the EU, was said to be the first of many others to follow for Parliamentarians.

Speaker of the House, Dr Barton Scotland, said MP’s will from time to time be invited to take advantage of any information that could be made available in particular areas.

According to Scotland, competition law provisions play a critical role in the development and establishment of open and competitive markets in the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) for entrepreneurs, professionals and established businesses.

“By extension it yields many benefits for the entire country,” he explained to a handful of Government and Opposition MP’s in Parliament Chambers. He said too that Members of Parliament have been specifically targeted as a key stakeholder group in the development scope and implementation of a national competition framework among Member States in the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

Scotland further explained that Parliament accepted an invitation by the GCC to participate in the workshop, which was facilitated by Trinidadian, Dr Kusha Haraksingh, Chairman of the Caricom Competition Commission.

Dr Haraksingh reminded that the program was part of a European Development Fund (EDF) project, while he noted that Guyana remains a signatory to the EU CARIFORUM Trade agreement.

“One of the chapters is competition law. As part of that agreement the EDF promised support in capacity building,” he told the participants.

He said the project is a general one in Caricom geared at sensitising persons about competition culture. He said the general citizenry still has to be sensitised about consumer welfare and the virtues and values of competition.

“It is not something that people readily embrace and here in the Caribbean; it is a contest with our own history because of the way in which business is being developed,” Haraksingh explained.

The Caricom Competition policy has as its objective to promote and maintain competition and enhance economic efficiency in production, trade and commerce. To ensure that action by enterprises does not reduce the benefits to be derived from the CSME, the Caricom Competition Policy prohibits anti-competitive business conduct which prevents, restricts or distorts competition. This policy also promotes and protects consumer welfare.

Effective competition policy is widely recognised as a requisite for the orderly operation of markets. Currently, over one hundred jurisdictions have implemented competition regimes and are applying competition laws to an ever increasing range of economic sectors, including some that were previously excluded from the ambit of competition policy by virtue of being state-supported or being considered ‘natural’ monopolies. Among the Caricom Member States, however, competition policy is predominantly unexplored territory, the exceptions being Jamaica, which adopted its policy in 1993 and Barbados, which followed in 2003.

The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community, including the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, ushers in a new era for Member States in respect of competition policy, as it imposes on them an obligation to implement competition policy in accordance with the Treaty provisions. The CSME creates a single economic space within which goods, services, capital and labour are to move freely and the right of establishment is secured. The CSME is expected to contribute to, among other things, expansion of the Region’s trade, enhanced international competitiveness and accelerated economic development.

The role of Caricom’s various economic agents, including both government and private sector economic enterprises, in achieving these goals cannot be overstated; nor can the significance of efficient mechanisms for regulating their relationships be ignored. Consequently, the creation of an environment conducive to enterprise growth and increased competition for markets and consumers is balanced by competition rules which seek to ensure that firms are able to enter the markets of their choice; healthy competition is introduced or maintained and consumers are guaranteed a wide choice of good quality goods and services at competitive price.