Comesa commission to benefit Malawi
The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has said Malawi stands to benefit by hosting the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Competition Commission as it will have an easy access to the regional authority.
CFTC acting executive director Charlotte Malonda said this recently in an interview with Business News.
“We are proud to host Comesa Competition Commission because we will benefit a lot from their technical expertise.
“We will also interface with the commission during local investigations and country-based enforcement exercises,” she said.
Malonda said the establishment of the commission in the country also means that local enterprises can easily file their complaints relating to anti-competitive trade practices and get a relief.
The commission’s chief executive officer Dr George Lipimile also spoke highly of the importance of Comesa in market integration.
“Benefits of market integration are only achieved in a competitive economic environment where new market barriers are not erected.
“Legal certainty must be provided if enterprises are to respond to the challenges of regional economic integration,” said Lipimile.
Rules on competition establish fair competition to ensure that anti-competitive practices do not create new barriers to trade or other forms of protectionism and benefits consumers.
The commission is established under Article 55 of the Comesa Treaty to deal with market challenges.
Lipimile noted that with the adoption of the Comesa Competition frameworks, there are two separate legal regimes which govern the enforcement of competition law and policy among Comesa member States.
Given the two legal orders, he added, the national order shall apply to the enforcement of anti-competitive practices emanating at national level hence, enforced by the national competition authorities in the respective member states.
Lipimile said the regional competition framework shall be invoked generally where there is a cross border impact.
He added that the common market law enjoys primacy over national law and member states must take steps to make the provisions of the Comesa Treaty an integral part of their legal systems and which their courts shall be bound to apply.
