Action by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy

The Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy,

Recalling the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, adopted by the General Assembly in resolution 35/63 of 5 December 1980,

Recalling the resolution adopted by the Ninth United Nations Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (Geneva, July 2025),1

Taking note of the decision of the sixteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Geneva, 2025) in paragraphs 21, 23 and 80.11 committing “to policies that harness the transformative potential of services, such as creating better data on trade in services, while addressing both the persistent challenges of sparse data on trade in services, informality and low productivity in some service sectors and the emerging challenges of digital service provision, including data governance, regulatory frameworks and competition policy; that “competition and consumer protection laws and policies play a crucial role in sustainable and inclusive development, by promoting open, dynamic, fair and safe markets and ensuring access by consumers to essential goods and services, empowering and protecting consumers from fraudulent and deceptive commercial practices and boosting consumer education to make more informed choices”; and that UNCTAD should “continue to support member States in the field of competition and consumer protection, including in, but not limited to, the areas of the digital economy and cross-border anti-cartel cooperation; this support includes the formulation and implementation of relevant policies, facilitation of cooperation and information-sharing among relevant national authorities, sharing of good practices and contribution to the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection and other relevant United Nations meetings, as well as full utilization of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy and the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Consumer Protection Law and Policy”,

Reaffirming the fundamental role that competition law and policy play in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by promoting competitive, open and contestable markets and ensuring wider choice, better quality and lower prices of goods and services for consumers,

Recognizing the need to strengthen the work of UNCTAD in competition law and policy so as to enhance its development role and benefits for consumers and markets,

Recognizing the value of assessing the impact of competition law and policy, to better understand and demonstrate its contribution to consumer welfare, productivity, innovation and economic development and of disseminating its benefits among all relevant stakeholders,

Recognizing that fair, transparent and resilient food value chains are essential for ensuring food security; and acknowledging the important role of competition law and policy in promoting competitive and well-functioning food markets, particularly in developing countries and the least developed countries,

Noting with appreciation the proposal from the Government of Kenya for the recognition of 5 December as world competition day and the consultations carried out since the Ninth United Nations Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices,

Taking note of the deliberations of the informal working group on cross-border cartels and of the report presented at its twenty-third session,

Noting with satisfaction the important written and oral contributions from member States and their competition authorities and other participants that enriched the debate during its twenty-third session,

Taking note with appreciation of the documentation prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat for its twenty-third session,

1. Welcomes the efforts of member States in implementing the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices; and reaffirms the interest of competition authorities in exchanging experiences, best practices and challenges regarding competition law and policy;
2. Encourages competition authorities to develop and share methodologies, tools and experiences in assessing the impact of competition law and policy and communicating its benefits;
3. Calls on competition authorities to strengthen enforcement in order to address competition concerns, including in food value chains, and deepen regional and international cooperation through joint market studies and joint investigations and discussions facilitated by UNCTAD, with a view to promoting food security, resilience and inclusive and sustainable development;
4. Underlines the importance of continuing discussions and exchanges of experiences among member States and competition authorities on recent developments in digital markets and their implications for competition law and policy, with a view to enhancing effective policy responses and enforcement;
5. Welcomes the information exchanges and discussions on best practices to promote cooperation between competition authorities in dealing with cross-border cartel cases and common issues in the fight against bid rigging; and decides to renew the mandate of the informal working group on cross-border cartels, to highlight best practices, to facilitate information exchanges, consultations and international cooperation and to report to the twenty-fourth session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy;
6. Underlines the importance of international cooperation as recognized in section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules, including informal collaboration among competition authorities; and calls upon UNCTAD to promote and support cooperation between Governments and competition authorities, as recommended in the document titled “Guiding policies and procedures under section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices”;
7. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to continue the dissemination of the document titled “Guiding policies and procedures under section F of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices” and to encourage its use by member States;
8. Emphasizes the importance of regional cooperation in the enforcement of competition law and policy and the significance of initiatives launched by regional competition organizations and frameworks; and invites competition authorities to strengthen their bilateral and regional cooperation;
9. Decides that UNCTAD should, considering past experiences, continue to undertake peer reviews of competition law and policy following requests from member States and in accordance with available resources;
10. Invites all member States and competition authorities to assist UNCTAD on a voluntary basis by providing experts or other resources for future and follow-up activities in connection with voluntary peer reviews and their recommendations;
11. Welcomes the modernization of the commentaries on individual chapters of the Model Law on Competition, part 2; requests the UNCTAD secretariat to continue this revision in the light of legislative and decisional developments among member States; and encourages all member States to complete and update this information for consideration at future sessions of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, for its continued dissemination;
12. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to prepare a report as background documentation for the twenty-fourth session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy on the topic of competition in online payment systems;
13. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to facilitate consultations, encourage contributions from member States and promote discussions among them on the topic of case prioritization principles and practices in competition law enforcement;
14. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to prepare, for the consideration of the twenty-fourth session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, an updated review of capacity-building in and technical assistance on competition law and policy, including challenges in the delivery and effectiveness of these activities, and to assess the long-term impact of these activities, based on information received from member States; and invites member States to provide such information for this purpose;
15. Invites member States to pursue discussions on the draft resolution concerning the recognition of 5 December as world competition day by the General Assembly;
16. Notes with appreciation the voluntary financial and other contributions received from member States and regional and international organizations; invites them to continue to assist UNCTAD on a voluntary basis in its capacity-building and technical cooperation activities by providing experts, training facilities and financial or other resources; and requests the UNCTAD secretariat to pursue capacity-building and technical cooperation activities, including training, and, where possible, to focus such activities on maximizing their impact in all interested countries, particularly developing countries.