By Michael Williams

The Gambia Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (GCCPC) has published the draft Competition and Consumer Protection Bill 2025 (the Bill). The Bill is intended to consolidate and repeal the Competition Act 2007 and the Consumer Protection Act 2014 within a single statutory framework, signalling a shift towards a more robust enforcement regime across both competition law and consumer welfare.

Institutionally, the Bill maintains the GCCPC as an independent corporate regulator, overseen by a Board of Commissioners and supported by an Executive Secretariat. The Bill also reflects a more proactive regime by empowering the GCCPC to inter alia act on its own initiative or in response to complaints, publish decisions supported by reasons, impose corrective measures and administrative penalties, and facilitate alternative dispute resolution in appropriate consumer matters.

On competition enforcement, the Bill reinforces the abuse of dominance regime by addressing both exploitation of customers and foreclosure of competitors. In practice, this equips the GCCPC to intervene against conduct such as unfair pricing outcomes, exclusionary strategies, and access-related restrictions (including scenarios associated with essential facilities), and it also contemplates risks arising in platform markets, including self-preferencing by dominant digital intermediaries. The Bill further introduces an “abuse of economic dependence” framework by defining the conduct of enterprises with “strategic market status” that will amount to abuse of economic dependence.

The Bill adopts a broad concept of “merger”, including full-function joint ventures and acquisitions conferring material influence, introduces notifiability criteria linked to turnover or assets in The Gambia, and contemplates transaction-value thresholds for digital and emerging technology transactions. The regime is suspensory: implementation before approval is prohibited and non-compliant mergers are treated as void. The GCCPC may also call in certain non-notifiable transactions where they appear likely to substantially prevent or lessen competition. Further guidance in relation to merger control is provided for in a dedicated GCCPC Draft Merger Regulations & Guideline.

Consumer protection is integrated into the same statute and supported by a clearer redress pathway. Consumers are expected, in the first instance, to seek redress from suppliers or follow a sector regulator’s process where applicable, with escalation to the GCCPC where the supplier does not respond within seven days or does not provide satisfactory redress within a reasonable period. The Bill also provides for investigations and consensual referrals to Alternative Dispute Resolution. It addresses aspects of digital commerce by introducing joint liability for digital platforms in defined circumstances, subject to specified defences.

Finally, the Bill strengthens enforcement mechanics and deterrence through a combination of investigatory powers including: channels for confidential or anonymous information, turnover-based administrative fines for certain infringements, including abuse of dominance and abuse of economic dependence, and potential personal exposure for directors and officers in specified circumstances, subject to statutory defences. Altogether, the Bill is likely to broaden compliance risk for businesses operating in The Gambia, particularly in relation to merger implementation risk and the accessibility of consumer complaint mechanisms.