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Africa: ECOWAS introduces competition regulator

By  |  July 1, 2019
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has a new competition regulator with the launch of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) on 31 May in Banjul, Gambia.

ECOWAS adopted its Regional Competition Rules in 2008 and at the same time, established the ERCA, as part of a regional competition policy adopted in 2007, however it has taken until now to launch the agency, which will monitor the region for market distorting anti-consumer activity.

Behaviour that is regulated includes abuse of dominance, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), state aid and restrictive business practices, all of which have been hot-button topics in international competition law across other regions including the European Union in recent years.

ERCA fills in a gap, as unlike in other regions, “the members of ECOWAS are predominantly without effective competition legislation on a domestic level”, says Tamara Dini, co-head of the competition practice with Bowmans in Cape Town.

Full Content: African Law Business

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