Category: Uganda

A New Dawn for African Antitrust in Uganda

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By Guest Author, Simon M. Mutungi, Ph.D.

Competition law first emerged in 19th century North America where it was known as antitrust law. Back then, large companies entered legal arrangements where they formed a trust that would hold and consolidate their property. They would then cooperate as a single group in various ways to maximize their profits at the expense of customers. To better understand the impact of such an arrangement, imagine you are a kid again back in kindergarten, preparing for a tag-of-war match and you have chosen the biggest and strongest colleagues as your teammates to compete with other students. That team is going to win that competition before the whistle even blows.

Enter John D. Rockefeller, one of modern history’s richest men, who formed a trust that consolidated a large number of petroleum companies under a single board of trustees. Through this trust called Standard Oil, he controlled about 90 percent of America’s oil refining capacity at its peak. Consequently, he could price the oil as he wished, and he did not need to produce quality petroleum products as there was no strong competition against his trust. Seeing the negative effect of such an arrangement on consumers and the economy at large, neighbouring Canada would pass the world’s first competition law in 1889 followed by the U.S in 1890 to break up such trusts hence the name ‘Antitrust’ law.

Now, 134 years later, Uganda has finally caught up following this month’s presidential assent of the Competition Act 2023, a very late yet equally very welcome endeavour. Till then we had mostly relied on sectoral laws such as Uganda Communications Act and regional laws like COMESA’s Competition Protocol. More recently, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Competition Protocol was also promulgated. Competition law is basically a policy designed to promote fair market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Uganda’s introduction of a Competition Act marks a significant stride in its economic legislative framework, aiming to create a fair business environment and improve consumer welfare. This editorial highlights the ABCs of competition law tailored for businesses and individuals who might be unfamiliar with the concept, in the context of Uganda’s new law.

Levelling the playing field

Imagine a marketplace in Uganda where only one seller has maize to sell. Without competition, this seller can charge high prices, and buyers have no choice but to pay up if they need maize. That seller would also have no incentive to produce good quality maize products since there would be no other alternatives to his products. Competition law levels the playing field by preventing such monopolies and ensuring that no single company can dominate a market to the detriment of consumers and competitors. It encourages innovation, fair pricing, and quality through healthy competition. By regulating anti-competitive practices, such as price-fixing and market sharing, competition law keeps markets open and accessible, allowing new entrants and fostering an environment where businesses of all sizes can thrive. This ensures consumers benefit from a wider choice of products and services, improved quality, and better prices.

 The Ugandan Competition Act 2023

President Museveni signed this law into effect on 2nd February 2024.and it addresses various practices as explained below:

 Prohibition of anti-competitive agreements.

The Act in effect, for instance prevents MTN and Airtel from agreeing on a deal to fix airtime or data prices at a certain level. It prevents Nile Breweries and Uganda Breweries from agreeing on a deal to limit the production of beers to cause a shortage and increase the price of Nile Special or Tusker Lite respectively. Under the Act, NTV cannot coordinate with NBS TV to divide the tele-broadcasting market by region, where one channel exclusively airs content in one area while the other operates in a different region, thereby avoiding direct competition. These are all examples of a horizontal agreement between competitors. The Act also prevents vertical arrangements such as tying arrangements where for example City Tyres would contract with Cafe Javas to only serve food to clients that used services of the former. Another example of vertical arrangements prohibited under the Act is resale price maintenance agreements where Unilever Uganda Limited for example would enter a contract with Akiki’s Retailer Shop to sell Geisha soap at a specific price, preventing her from offering discounts or altering the price. A deal forcing Akiki’s retail shop to only sell Unilever products under an exclusive supply/distribution agreement is also illegal under the new law. This position was earlier provided by the commercial court in Ezee Money v. MTN Uganda, where court found that MTN’s use of illegal exclusivity agreements on mobile money agents and intimidation tactics in the market; restricted competitors from rendering beneficial services to the public and thus constituted unfair competition in violation of the Communications (Fair Competition) Regulations, 2005.

However, the Act’s limitation lies in the genius nature of companies, which typically avoid explicit collusion agreements, opting instead for subtle coordination through mutual adjustments in their actions without documented interactions. For instance, Mogas and CityOil may observe each other’s pricing and adjust their own prices accordingly without any direct communication. If one station raises its prices and the others follow suit, maintaining higher prices collectively, they are indirectly coordinating to benefit from higher profits at the expense of consumers, despite not having an explicit agreement to do so. While the law addresses this issue in price fixing and tendering exercises, it leaves other media open and as such it ought to address not just overt but also covert forms of collusion, ensuring it encompasses both explicit and implicit conspiracies to ensure market fairness.

Abuse of dominant position

Dominant position is defined under the Act as a firm commanding 30 percent of the market or where a group of three or more has a 60 percent market share. Such a firm(s) are not allowed to use this position to the detriment of their competition or consumers for instance through predatory pricing. This is a concept where, hypothetically, Kinyara significantly lowers sugar prices below cost to outcompete and drive Kakira out of the sugar market and once the latter has left the market, the former raises prices again, taking advantage of its now dominant market position.

Another example of abuse of dominant position is the refusal of access to an essential facility.  The Act does not define what an essential facility is but it is basically a facility/asset/infrastructure that is owned and controlled by a dominant firm or monopolist which facility a third party needs access to, to offer its own product or service. This doctrine is applied when the facility in question is something competitors cannot feasibly replicate due to legal, economic, or technical barriers, and where denying access to this facility would hinder competition.

Essentially, it ensures that no company can use control over a crucial resource to lock out competition and maintain its dominance, thereby promoting a more competitive marketplace. This doctrine has proved controversial and Ugandan courts have dealt with this issue before and will likely deal with it again. For example, can MTN commanding a dominant position in the mobile money market deny any third-party fintech aggregators access to its mobile money platform? This issue was at play again in the 2013 Ezee Money v MTN matter where the court determined that MTN had unjustly prevented Ezee Money from connecting with the aggregator, Yo! Uganda Limited, to its network. As a result, Ezee argued that it incurred substantial financial losses.

The court rejected MTN’s flimsy response that the law only protected licensed persons and held that its activities unfairly prevented, restricted or distorted competition in the communications sector contrary to the Uganda Communications Act and the Communications (Fair Competition) Regulations, 2005. MTN was ordered to pay general damages of USD 235,000 as well as punitive damages to the tune of USD 441,000, though this was appealed. This verdict, in my opinion, was the catalyst for the emergence of the hundreds of Ugandan fintech start-ups that have leveraged the essential infrastructure provided by MTN and Airtel. This development has led to the creation of a robust national payment system, ultimately and significantly benefiting us, the consumers. This will also be critical as Uganda ventures into the open banking sphere.

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

The Act requires that for all mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures to be consummated, there must be authorization from the Minister of Trade. Firstly, the Minister should immediately prescribe a threshold for the kind of mergers and acquisition that will require ministerial approval lest Frank’s Auto Shop acquisition of Amara’s Garage in downtown Kisenyi require clearance which can cause a mountain load of paperwork headache for both the minister and these SMEs. Only acquisitions that can alter competition on a large scale should require ministerial approval. For example, MTN can never be allowed to acquire Airtel in this current market under the new law.

Another type of arrangement the Act indirectly prohibits is “killer acquisitions” This refers to a strategy where a dominant firm acquires a potential competitor, not necessarily for the value of its existing operations, but to prevent future competition. Imagine a large pharmaceutical company, like Quality Chemicals Ltd that dominates the market for a specific class of HIV/AIDS medication “ARVx,”. Now imagine a small start-up, Ankole Pharma Ltd, develops a promising new HIV/AIDS drug “AnXX” that could potentially revolutionize treatment in this category, posing a competitive threat to Quality Chemical’s ARVx. Before Ankole Pharma can bring AnXX to the market, Quality Chemicals Ltd acquires Ankole Pharma.

However instead of further developing and marketing Ankole Pharma’s ground-breaking drug AnXX, Quality Chem shelves or kills the project altogether. This move effectively eliminates a potential competitor, ensuring Quality Chemical’s market dominance remains unchallenged, preventing the innovative drug from reaching patients who could benefit from it. This scenario exemplifies a “killer acquisition” in the pharmaceutical industry, where the primary motive is to stifle competition and innovation rather than enhance the acquirer’s product portfolio.

Such are the practices that competition law seeks to prevent. In a free capitalistic market, parties tend to place profits ahead of the consumer welfare and government intervention is welcome to this extent. This intervention is however a costly venture as the government would need to train/hire economists and lawyers to add some bite to its bark. Noting that there is also no competition authority despite the law being passed, the country still has challenges ahead in this regard.

The author, Dr. Mutungi

(c) Dr. Simon Mutungi

Uganda misses $5m Common Market payments, gets “suspension”

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As the local Daily Monitor reports, landlocked COMESA member state Uganda — ruled since January 1986 by authoritarian president Museveni — has failed to make requisite payments under the COMESA Treaty to the supra-national regional organization. Its arrears date back over two years, according to sources, and amount to roughly U.S. $4 to 5 million. Arrears carry with them a 1% per annum interest rate.

COMESA’s Secretary General has officially reprimanded the Ugandan government and placed the nation on the organization’s “sanction bracket.” Andreas Stargard, an attorney with Africa boutique law firm Primerio Ltd., notes that being sanctioned carries with it the nation-state’s loss of all privileges of COMESA membership, including its key free-trading benefits, during the duration of the sanctions being imposed. “It also means that Ugandan officials are not permitted to address official COMESA bodies, nor are Ugandan citizens permitted to be appointed to, or hired by, COMESA organs. It remains to be seen whether this suspension of Uganda will impact competition-law enforcement in any direct, appreciable way — what comes to mind is merger notification and the impact that Uganda’s being sanctioned may have on cooperation between the CCC and Ugandan authorities.”

The outstanding debt is all the more concerning as Museveni’s administration, in an attempt to cling to power after 35 years, recently reportedly spent large sums out of the state’s coffers on military-grade weaponry to prepare for the chaos precipitated by the recent hotly-disputed elections.

COMESA news: Uganda gets on board, fields new CCC Board Chair

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For the small but growing segment of COMESA Competition Commission observers in the world, some recent developments relating to a key member state may have gone unnoticed: the CCC held a training workshop for Ugandan officials, including over 110 ministerial District Commercial Officers, in sensitizing them to competition-law issues, spotting antitrust offences, and catalysing the enactment of robust competition legislation in the East African nation, whose GDP exceeds $25 billion and has exhibited consistent growth over the past several years.

CCC’s Uganda training workshop

Says Andreas Stargard, a competition partner with African boutique firm Primerio Ltd.:

This development of the CCC supporting domestic antitrust enforcement and legislative efforts is not only affirmatively required by the COMESA Treaty, obligating member states to enact legislation comporting with the CCC Regulations, but has long been foreshadowed by CCC officials.

For example, at this year’s region-wide sensitization workshop held by the CCC in Nairobi, Kenya, the agency’s leadership assured me personally that they would undertake these capacity-building programmes throughout COMESA member states, especially those with less-developed competition-law regimes, including Uganda.

CCC Board Chair Patrick Okilangole (Uganda)

Uganda is a key COMESA country that does not have a functioning antitrust enforcement body or underlying legislation.  Mr. Stargard adds that “the CCC’s choice of Uganda as a target jurisdiction may, in addition, also have been influenced by the fact that the current CCC Board Chairman is Patrick Okilangole, a Ugandan national,” whose appointment to the Commission’s Board was recently renewed in July.

CCC workshop participants

COMESA competition workshops underway (#CCCworkshop)

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Events focus on media & business community’s understanding of competition rules and practical workload of CCC

Media

For two days this week, COMESA will hold its 5th annual “Regional Sensitization Workshop for Business Reporters“, focussed on provisions and application of the COMESA competition regulations and trade developments within the 19-country common market.

Over 30 journalists from close to a dozen countries are expected to participate in the event, held in Narobi, Kenya, from Monday – Tuesday.

AfricanAntitrust.com will cover all pertinent news emerging from the conference.  We will update this post as the conference progresses.

Speakers include a crème de la crème of East African government antitrust enforcement, including the CCC’s own Willard Mwemba (head of M&A), the CCC’s Director Dr. George Lipimile, and the Director and CEO of the Competition Authority of Kenya, Francis Wang’ombe Kariuki.  Topics will include news on the rather well-developed area of of mergerenforcement, regional integration & competition policy, as well as the concept of antitrust enforcement by the CCC as to restrictive business practices, an area that has been thus far less developed by the Commission in terms of visibility and actual enforcement, especially when compared to M&A.  We previously quoted Director Lipimile’s statement at a 2014 conference that, since the CCC’s commencement of operations “in January, 2013, the most active provisions of the Regulations have been the merger control provisions.”

Andreas Stargard, a competition practitioner, notes:

“We have been impressed with the Commission’s progress to-date, but remain surprised that no cartel cases have emerged from the CCC’s activities.  We believe that the CCC has sufficient capacity and experience now, in its sixth year of existence, to pursue both collusion and unilateral-conduct competition cases.

Personally, I remain cautiously optimistic that the CCC will, going forward, take up the full spectrum of antitrust enforcement activities — beyond pure merger review — including monopolisation/abuse of dominance cases, as well as the inevitable cartel investigations and prosecutions that must follow.”

The media conference will conclude tomorrow evening, June 26th.

Business Community

COMESA Competition Commission logoThe second event, also held in Nairobi, will shift its focus both in terms of attendees and messaging: It is the CCC’s first-ever competition-law sensitization workshop for the Business Community, to take place on Wednesday.  It is, arguably, even more topical than the former, given that the target audience of this workshop are the corporate actors at whom the competition legislation is aimed — invited are not only practicing attorneys, but also Managing Directors, CEOs, company secretaries, and board members of corporations.  It is this audience that, in essence, conducts the type of Mergers & Acquisitions and (in some instances) restrictive, anti-competitive business conduct that falls under the jurisdiction of Messrs. Lipimile, Mwemba, and Kariuki as well as their other domestic African counterparts in the region.

The inter-regional trade component will also be emphasized; as the CCC’s materials note, “we are at a historical moment in time where the Tripartite and Continental Free Trade Area agreements are underway. The objective of these agreements is to realize a single market. Competition law plays a vital role in the realization of this objective, therefore its imperative that journalists have an understanding of how competition law contributes to the Agenda.”

#LiveUpdates from the #CCCworkshop

Kenya perspective

Boniface Kamiti, the CAK representative replacing Mr. Kariuki at the event, noted that Africa in general and including the COMESA region “has a weak competition culture amongst businesses — which is why cartels are continuing in Africa, and the level of M&A is not at the level one would expect.”  This is why media “reporting on competition advocacy is very important, to articulate the benefits of competition policy and how enforcement activities further its goals, so the COMESA countries may be able to compete with other countries, including even the EU members, at a high level.”

He also highlighted — although without further explanation — the “interplay between the COMESA competition laws and those of the member countries; most people are not aware of that!”  This comment is of particular interest in light of the prior jurisdictional tension that had existed between national agencies and the CCC in the past regarding where and when to file M&A deals.  These “teething issues are now fully resolved”, according to Dr. Lipimile, and there are neither de iure nor any de facto merger notification requirements in individual COMESA member states other than the “one-stop shop” CCC filing (which has, according to Mr. Mwemba, reduced parties’ M&A transaction costs by 66%).

On the issue of restrictive trade practices (RTP), the CAK reminded participants that trade associations often serve to facilitate RTP such as price-fixing cartels, which are subject to (historically not yet imposed, nor likely to be) criminal sanctions in Kenya. It also observed that (1) manufacturers’ resale price maintenance (RPM) would almost always be prosecuted under the Kenyan Competition Act, and that (2) since a 2016 legislative amendment, monopsony conduct (abuse of buyer power) is also subject to the Act’s prohibitions.

Concluding, the CAK’s Barnabas Andiva spoke of its “fruitful” collaboration with the CCC on ongoing RTP matters, noting the existing inter-agency Cooperation Agreement. Added Mr. Mwemba, “we have approximately 19 pending RTP cases.”

CCC leadership perspective:  Nudging Uganda and Nigeria towards competition enforcement

CCC_Director
George Lipimile, CEO, COMESA Competition Commission

Dr. Lipimile took up Mr. Kamiti’s “weak African competition culture” point, noting the peculiar regional issue that “between poverty and development lies competition” to enhance consumer welfare.

He took the audience through a brief history of antitrust laws globally, and encouraged journalists to explain the practical benefits of “creating competitive markets” for the population of the COMESA region at large.

He called on Uganda and Nigeria to — finally — enact a competition law.  (AAT has independently reported on Uganda and also the EAC’s emphasis on its member nations having operational antitrust regimes.  We observe that Uganda does have a draft Competition Bill pending for review; a fellow Ugandan journalist at the conference mentioned that there has been some, undefined, progress made on advancing it in the Ugandan legislature.)  Dangote — the vast Nigerian cement conglomerate (see our prior article here) — and Lafarge played exemplary roles in Lipimile’s discourse, in which he commented that “they do not need protecting, they are large”, instead “we need more players” to compete.

Importantly, Dr. Lipimile emphasized that protectionism is anti-competitive, that “competition law must not discriminate,” and that its goal of ensuring competitive market behaviour must not be confused with the objectives of other laws that are more specifically geared to developing certain societal groups or bestow benefits on disadvantaged populations, as these are not the objectives of competition legislation.

The CCC also called on the press to play a more active role in the actual investigation of anti-competitive behaviour, by reporting on bid rigging, unreported M&A activity, suspected cartels (e.g., based on unexplained, joint price hikes in an industry), and the like.  These types of media reports may indeed prompt CCC investigations, Lipimile said.  Current “market partitioning” investigations mentioned by him include Coca Cola, SABMiller, and Unilever.

He concluded with the — intriguing, yet extremely challenging, in our view — idea of expanding and replicating the COMESA competition model on a full-fledged African scale, possibly involving the African Union as a vehicle.

CCC workshop participants
2018 CCC workshop participants

COMESA Trade perspective

The organisation’s Director of Trade & Commerce, Francis Mangeni, presented the ‘competition-counterpart’ perspective on trade, using the timely example of Kenyan sugar imports, the cartel-like structure supporting them, and the resulting artificially high prices, noting the politically-influenced protectionist importation limitations imposed in Kenya.

Dr. Mangeni opined that the CCC “can and should scale up its operations vigorously” to address all competition-related impediments to free trade in the area.

CCC Mergers

Director of M&A, Mr. Mwemba, updated the conference on the agency’s merger-review developments. He pointed to the agency’s best-of-breed electronic merger filing mechanism (reducing party costs), and the importance of the CCC’s staying abreast of all new antitrust economics tools as well as commercial technologies in order to be able to evaluate new markets and their competitiveness (e.g., online payments).

As Mr. Mwemba rightly pointed out, most transactions “do not raise competition concerns” and those that do can be and often are resolved via constructive discussions and, in some cases, undertakings by the affected companies. In addition, the CCC follows international best practices such as engaging in pre-merger notification talks with the parties, as well as follow-ups with stakeholders in the affected jurisdictions.

Key Statistics

Year-to-date (2018), the 24 notified mergers account for approximately $18 billion in COMESA turnover alone. Leading M&A sectors are banking, finance, energy, construction, and agriculture.

In terms of geographic origination, Kenya, Zambia, and Mauritius are the leading source nations of deal-making parties, with Zimbabwe and Uganda closely following and rounding out the Top-5 country list.

The total number of deals reviewed by the CCC since 2013 amounts to 175 with a total transaction value of US $92 billion, accounting for approximately $73.7 billion in COMESA market revenues alone. (The filing fees derived by the Commission have totaled $27.9 million, of which half is shared with the affected member states.)

All notified deals have received approval thus far. Over 90% of transactions were approved unconditionally. In 15 merger cases, the CCC decided to impose conditions on the approval.

Harmonising agricultural seed regulations across COMESA: COMSHIP Certification

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COMSHIP advances bloc’s Certification Programme to next level

Announced in Lusaka by COMESA’s Assistant Secretary General in charge of Programmes, the long-awaited Regional Seed Certificates will be issued by member states’ national seed authorities, in an attempt to level the competitive playing field and establish guaranteed performance and yields of otherwise unpredictably performing seed products.  The COMESA programme requires verification that a registered seed lot in the region’s “Variety Catalogue” has been inspected to field standards and laboratory analysis.

Andreas Stargard
Andreas Stargard

“The COMESA Competition Commission (CCC) having approved no less than three major agricultural mergers over the past year (Bayer/Monsanto, Dow/DuPont, and Syngenta/ChemChina) — all of which involved significant seed production and R&D elements — the Regional Seed Certificate programme represents the next step in bringing to fruition the COMESA Seed Harmonisation Implementation Plan (COMSHIP), designed to align seed regulations within the trading bloc,” says Andreas Stargard, a competition lawyer with Primerio Ltd.  “The Secretariat’s stated goal of COMSHIP is not only to assure product quality and grow intra-bloc commerce, but also increase the extra-regional competitiveness of the trade group’s substantial seed industry,” in line with COMESA’s Seed Trade Harmonization Regulations of 2014.

COMESACCAccording to its own statements, whilst only five member countries (Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe) have fully modelled their national seed laws on the COMESA Seed System, the group’s Seed Certification system is the first such “use and distribution of seed labels and certificates as a way of improving access to quality seeds in the region” anywhere in the world, based on a model suggested by the OECD.  The system will “impact virtually all of the approximately 130 million COMESA inhabitants, who stand to benefit, according to the group, from assured-quality improved seed production and usage, as well as a de-fragmentation of the historically rather localised, national markets for seeds,” commented Stargard.

Practically speaking, the seed certification labels will incorporate machine-readability, traceability, and security features, and will be printed in the COMESA official languages: English, French and Arabic.

COMESA to Introduce Seed Labels and Certificates to Boost regional Trade

Akzo rejects CCC notification request, claims no ‘failure-to-file’ in paint deal

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Paint giant goes on offensive against COMESA request for retroactive merger filing

By AAT Editors

As AAT first reported here on Sept. 26, the COMESA Competition Commission has launched its first failure-to-file investigation into an M&A transaction (here, likely, a licensing deal), specifically involving Dutch commercial paint giant AkzoNobel and paint brand “Sadolin“.

sadolin.jpgToday’s news, reported in local Ugandan media, is that AkzoNobel’s Director for Decorative Paints in Sub-Saharan Africa, Johann Smidt, made strong comments at the “relaunch” of Sadolin Uganda, claiming that Akzo’s reassignment of the Sadolin brand name & distribution network to Crown Paints East Africa “falls outside the CCC’s purview.”  This sentiment was echoed by Crown’s CEO, Rakesh Rao, saying that “[w]e do not have a merger going on; we are a fully independent plant, so COMESA does not come into the picture at all.”

Competition lawyers caution that, on occasion, a business person’s notion of what constitutes a “notifiable transaction” can be at odds with the legal definition thereof, says Andreas Stargard,  an antitrust attorney with Primerio Ltd.

“Whilst they may not be a classic ‘merger’ or ‘acquisition’ in the eyes of the business people, certain types of exclusive licensing agreements or even patent or other IP [intellectual property] assignments may very well fall within the purview of competition regulators, including the COMESA Comp Com.,” said Stargard.

The facts surrounding the transaction itself are by all accounts, fairly confounding.  As best as one can interpret the media reports, the former AkzoNobel license agreement was one with an entity called “Sadolin East Africa” (SEA).  However, upon the purchase of SEA by Japanese company Kansai Plascon (AKA “Plascon Uganda” in the region), Akzo cancelled the agreement and has now entered into a new replacement license with Crown Paints (AKA Regal Paints).  It is the cancellation and reassignment that, according to two letters sent by the CCC on September 19th and 25th, requesting that the companies make retroactive merger-notification filings to bring them into belated compliance with the COMESA merger regime.

For now, we know that Akzo remains defiant (presumably basing its critical position on advice of legal counsel), with its local director stating that “whatever we have done to date has been within the laws of this country and this region”.

While some of Akzo’s statements were presumably vetted by antitrust counsel, others are at odds with a “good” antitrust story and appear to be less-carefully made proclamations: Akzo has said that “we believe that we are going to improve competition because we have a new player who is introducing a new product and an existing player, who is Sadolin and we will continue to be here,” yet its director also noted “that the war of words between Sadolin and Plascon had eaten into their market share and that this had influenced their quick agreement with Crown paints”.

As attorney Stargard observes, “it is usually not considered to be an effective antitrust defence to claim that a competitor has ‘eaten into your market share’, and that your actions that are now under investigation were motivated by said competition…”

Adverse effects of price-fixing: East Africa recognises drawbacks

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It is not really news, but worth mentioning as it is literally happening simultaneously: As the most developed antitrust enforcement jurisdiction in Africa, South Africa, charges ahead with heavy-handed actions, such as denying alleged currency manipulators “access to file” in the investigative process, or accusing two livestock-feed processors of colluding in the sales and pricing of animal feed ‘peel pulp’, the East African nations lag behind.

What is news, however, is that they have begun to recognise the shortcoming and the adverse effects of collusion and other anti-competitive conduct on their economies: Andreas Stargard, an antitrust lawyer with Primerio Ltd., notes that the head of the East African Community (EAC), Mr. Liberat Mfumukeko, recently addressed ongoing antitrust violations in the EAC: “The Secretary denounced anti-competitive practices (cartels and the like) as serious obstacles to obtaining foreign direct investment in the region.  Moreover, he recognised the violations as ‘impeding effective competition’ and thereby directly hurting African consumers,” says Stargard.

Mr Mfumukeko is quoted as stating: “The EAC markets pose challenges to investors and consumers including the charging of high prices arising from anti-competitive practices such as cartels. These practices impede effective competition in the markets.”

Within the EAC, Stargard notes, the primary jurisdictions with operational antitrust regimes are Kenya and Tanzania, with others such as Uganda lagging behind even farther, having no competition legislation or only having draft bills under review.  Most other nations lag behind, although, as Mr. Stargard observes, many are part of the broader COMESA competition regime.  “The COMESA rules, however, have thus far been enforced with a primary objective of merger regulation,” he says, “effectively failing to police any collusive conduct in the close to two dozen member states at all, despite the explicit prohibition thereof in the COMESA regulations.”

EAC expands to accept 6th member in accession of S. Sudan

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Landlocked and Oil-Rich South Sudan Joins Free-Trade Zone

As South Sudan was officially admitted to the East African Community (EAC) as its sixth member in Arusha (Tanzania), on Wednesday, March 2, the beleaguered nation joined a free-trade zone that will allow it to benefit from more open labour movement, less restrictions on capital flows and other increased economic integration.  The other member states are Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda.  After integration with S. Sudan — the youngest nation on Earth — the region will have a population of an estimated 163 million.

John Oxenham, of Pr1merio Africa advisors, says: “South Sudan’s former institutional weaknesses were (apparently, despite the ongoing civil strife in the country) sufficiently remedied that the EAC governing body saw fit to grant the application for admission that had been pending since 2011.  Basic governance principles must be met for EAC membership, and we are not even talking competition-law here…”

As the EAC charter provides, all members must demonstrate and strive to achieve “good governance including adherence to the principles of democracy, the rule of law, accountability, transparency, social justice, equal opportunities, gender equality, as well as the recognition, promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”  (EAC Treaty, Chapter 2 Article 6 (d)).

 

Setting aside civil-rights concerns or worries about political instability, the integration of an oil-rich nation may ultimately benefit its neighbouring fellow EAC members, such as Kenya and Uganda.  It remains to be seen whether integrating a less-than-stable country into the EAC zone will harm the competition legislation the region enacted in 2006.  As AAT author Elizabeth Sisenda pointed out recently, the organisation “has been setting up the mechanisms for its enforcement to-date through capacity building and mobilizing resources. In 2010, the EAC subsequently enacted competition regulations to assist in implementing the Act. One of the main challenges that has been encountered in the EAC with regards to the implementation of competition law and policy has been the unique economic and market structure of the member states.  The majority of the EAC member states are economies that are transitioning from state-regulation to liberalization.”

We note that S. Sudan’s northern neighbour, the Republic of [the] Sudan, is currently a COMESA member state and thereby subject to the COMESA competition-law regulations and related merger-notification regime.  South Sudan has, since at least the 2012 talks in Uganda, likewise been in negotiations with the COMESA governing bodies to discuss accession to that free-trade zone.

The Big Picture (AAT): East Africa & Antitrust Enforcement

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AAT the big picture

East-Africa & Antitrust: Enforcement of EAC Competition Act

By AAT guest author, Anne Brigot-Laperrousaz.

Introduction: Back in 2006…

The East African Community (the “EAC”) Competition Act of 2006 (the “Act”) was published in the EAC Gazette in September 2007. The Act was taken as a regulatory response to the intensification of competition resulting from the Customs Union entered into in 2005. This was the first of the four-step approach towards strengthening relations between member States, as stated in Article 5(1) of the Treaty Establishing the EAC.

Challenges facing the EAC

As John Oxenham, an Africa practitioner with advisory firm Pr1merio, notes, “10 years have passed since the adoption of the EAC Act, yet it remains unclear when (and if) the EAC will develop a fully functional competition law regime.”

The EAC Competition Authority (the “Authority”) was intended to be set up by July 2015, after confirmation of the member States’ nominees for the posts of commissioners. Unfortunately Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi failed to submit names of nominees for the positions available, and the process has become somewhat idle, leaving questions open as to future developments.

The main challenges facing the EAC identified by the EAC’s Secretariat is firstly, the implementation of national competition regulatory frameworks in all member States; and secondly, the enhancement of public awareness and political will[1].

The first undertaking was the adoption of competition laws and the establishment of competition institutions at a national level, by all member states, on which the sound functioning of the EAC competition structure largely relies.

Apart from Uganda, all EAC member States have enacted a competition act, although with important discrepancies as to their level of implementation at a national level.

The second aspect of the EAC competition project is the setting up of the regional Competition Authority, which was to be ensured and funded by all members of the EAC, under the supervision of the EAC Secretariat. Although an interim structure has been approved by member States, the final measures appear to be at a deadlock.

As mentioned, the nomination of the commissioners and finalisation of the setting up of the EAC Competition Authority came to a dead-end in July 2015, despite the $701,530 was set aside in the financial budget to ensure the viability of the institution[2]. It is widely considered, however, that this amount is still insufficient to ensure the functionality of the Competition Authority.  Andreas Stargard, also with Pr1merio, points out that “[t]he EAC has been said to be drafting amendments to its thus-far essentially dormant Competition Act to address antitrust concerns in the region.  However, this has not come to fruition and work on developing the EAC’s competition authority into a stable body has been surpassed by its de facto competitor, the COMESA Competition Commission.”

Furthermore, inconsistencies among national competition regimes within the EAC are an important impediment to the installation of a harmonised regional enforcement. Finally, international reviews as well as national doctrine and practice commentaries have highlighted the lack public sensitization and political will to conduct this project.

A further consideration, as pointed out by Wang’ombe Kariuki, Director-General of the Competition Authority of Kenya, is the challenge posed by the existence of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (“COMESA”).

Conclusion

The implementation of the EAC has not seen much progress since its enactment, despite its important potential and necessity[3]. It therefore remains to be seen how the EAC deals with the various challenges and whether it will ever become a fully functional competition agency.

A quick summation of the status of the national laws of the various EAC members can be seen below. For further and more comprehensive assessments of the various member states competition law regimes please see African Antitrust for more articles dealing with the latest developments.

EAC Member States Status

Tanzania

The Tanzanian Fair Competition Act (the “FCA”) was enacted in 2003, along with the institution of a Commission and Tribunal responsible for its enforcement. The FCA became operational in 2005. Tanzania’s competition regime was analysed within the ambit of an UNCTAD voluntary peer review in 2012[4]. The UNCTAD concluded that Tanzania had overall “put in place a sound legal and institutional framework”, containing “some of the international best practices and standards”.

This report, however, triggered discussions on major potential changes to the FCA, which would impact, in particular, institutional weaknesses and agency effectiveness[5]. One of the most radical changes announced consisted in the introduction of criminal sanctions against shareholders, directors and officers of a firm engaged in cartel conduct[6], although there is no sign that this reform will be adopted.

Kenya

Kenya, following a 2002 OECD report[7] and the European Union competition regulation model, replaced its former legislation with the 2010 Competition Act, which came into force in 2011, and established a Competition Authority and Tribunal. Under the UNCTAD framework, the 2015 assessment of the implementation of the recommendations made during a voluntary peer review conveyed in 2005[8] was generally positive. It was noted, however, that there was an important lack of co-operation between the Competition Authority and sectoral regulators, and that there was a need for clear merger control thresholds[9].

Burundi

Burundi adopted a Competition Act in 2010, which established the Competition Commission as the independent competition regulator. To date, the Act has not yet been implemented, and accordingly no competition agency is in operation[10].

A 2014 study led by the Burundian Consumers Association (Association Burundaise des Consommateurs, “Abuco”) (which was confirmed by the Ministry of Trade representative) pointed to the lack of an operating budget as one of the main obstacles to the pursuit of the project[11].

Rwanda and Uganda

Rwanda enacted its Competition and Consumer Protection Law in 2012, and established the Competition and Consumer Protection Regulatory Body.

As for Uganda, to date no specific legal regime has been put in place in Uganda as regards competition matters, although projects have been submitted to Uganda’s cabinet and Parliament, in particular a Competition Bill issued by the Uganda Law Reform Commission, so far unsuccessfully.

 

Footnotes:

[1] A Mutabingwa “Should EAC regulate competition?” (2010), East African Community Secretariat

[2] C Ligami, “EAC to set up authority to push for free, fair trade” (2015), The EastAfrican

[3] O Kiishweko, “Tanzania : Dar Praised for Fair Business Environment” (2015), Tanzania Daily News

[4] UNCTAD “ Voluntary Peer Review on competition policy: United Republic of Tanzania” (2012), UNCTAD/DITC/CLP/2012/1

[5] S Ndikimi, “The future of fair competition in Tanzania” (2013), East African Law Chambers

[6] O Kiishweko, “Tanzania: Fair Competition Act for Review’ (2012), Tanzania Daily News.

[7] OECD Global Forum on Competition, Contribution from Kenya, “ Kenya’s experience of and needs for capacity building/technical assistance in competition law an policy “ (2002), Paper n°CCNM/GF/COMP/WD(2002)7

[8] UNCTAD, “ Voluntary Peer Review on competition policy: Kenya” (2005), UNCTAD/DITC/CLP/2005/6

[9] MM de Fays, “ UNCTAD peer review mechanism for competition law : 10 years of existence – A comparative analysis of the implementation of the Peer Review’s recommendations across several assessed countries” (2015)

[10] Burundi Investment Promotion Authority “Burundi at a Glance – Legal and political structure”, http://www.investburundi.com/en/legal-structure

[11] Africa Time, “Loi sur la concurrence : 4 ans après, elle n’est pas encore appliquée” (Competition Law : 4 years after, it is still not implemented) (2014), http://fr.africatime.com/burundi/articles/loi-sur-la-concurrence-4-ans-apres-elle-nest-pas-encore-appliquee

Proliferation of active multi-nation competition regimes continues

Posted on by andreasstargard

6-member East African Community (EAC) to finalise competition law amendments

The EAC, a regional intergovernmental organisation comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan, is said to be drafting amendments to its thus-far essentially dormant regional fair Competition Act (dating back to 2006, EAC Competition Act 2006, 49 sections) to address antitrust concerns in the region.  The EAC’s legislative body is in the final stages of completing its work on the East African Community Competition (Amendment) Bill (2015).

In a 2010 paper, Alloys Mutabingwa (then Deputy Secretary General of the EAC Community Secretariat) writes:

As the EAC begins the implementation of the Common Market, one is pushed to wonder, which kind of competition do we currently have in the East African Community? Is it the kind of competition that constantly pushes companies to innovate and reduce prices? Does it increase the choice of products and services available to EAC consumers? Or, is it the type of competition that is defined by companies colluding to highjack the market? The answer lies somewhere in the middle but one thing is certain, with the intensification of competition in the EAC there will be frictions between companies across the region as they seek to gain advantage over their competitors.

In this short and worthwhile read, he stresses the importance of having a multi-national competition framework vs. a purely domestic network of independent enforcers.  Mr. Mutabingwa uses the example of the merger case of East African Breweries and South African Breweries, in which the Kenyan and Tanzanian competition authorities were “allowed by law to handle national practices only.”

According to an October 2014 article, “statistics show that the EAC’s total intra-regional trade soared from $2 billion in 2005 to $5.8 billion in 2012, while the total intra-regional exports grew from $500 million to $3.2 billion in the period under review.”  The  piece quotes an EAC competition official as saying that the enforcement agency would be online by December 2014.

In addition to the EAC efforts, a report also states that the head of economic affairs of the Tanzanian Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT), Nzinyangwa Mchany, recently emphasised the importance of member-state level enforcement, such as that of the country’s FCT and FCC, “to increase efficiency in the production, distribution and supply of goods and services to Tanzanians,” especially in economies that were centrally planned until only a few decades ago, and which have had to struggle with the ill after-effects of unregulated trade liberalisation and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.