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| Experts brainstorm on fair trade commission |
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by
Aubrey Mchulu, 15 March 2004
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18:45:33
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Trade and legal experts met in Blantyre on Monday and suggested that the consumer protection law be combined with the Competition and Fair Trading law to cut down on costs of running the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC), a regulatory body for acts likely to negatively affect competition and fair trading in Malawi.
In his contribution during a panel discussion, Brian Ntonya, director of economic planning in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development, said back in 2001 the cost of running the commission was estimated at K25 million and cabinet rejected proposals for separate Consumer Protection Council under the Consumer Protection Act.
Ntonya said instead, cabinet suggested that the existing framework in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry could be used to perform functions of the council.
Another participant warned that if the nation waits for the time when there is money to run such institutions then the two laws will never be implemented as such time will never come.
This caution was supported by George Lipimile, executive director for Zambia Competition Commission, who said it is time the Ministry of Commerce appointed the board for the commission which should start implementing the law by appointing a chief executive and work on a budget.
“It is this board, and not the ministry, which should then approve the organisational structure of the commission and prioritise on which officers and programmes to get started with,” he said.
Among other things, the competition law is set to check against formation of mergers which only benefits producers and not consumers.
Zimbabwe Fair Trade Commission executive director Alexander Kububa said mergers are both pro and anti-competition hence the need to take advantage of pro-competition mergers and not rule them out wholesale.
On resources, Kububa also said his commission has been working since 1999 without enough resources.
Chancellor Kaferapanjira, Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry chief executive, said the law needs to be tested first since it has not been implemented since 1998 when it was passed.
The commission, expected to be put in place before the end of the current financial year in June, is set to have two persons representing business interests, a lawyer, an economist, an accountant and two persons representing consumer interests with representatives of government ministries like Finance and Commerce as ex-officio members.
Commerce and Industry Minister Sam Mpasu was expected to officially open the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) funded consultative meeting later on Monday.
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