Considering the important role of research and policy analysis in the development of appropriate policies and legislation responding to the challenges faced in the area of competition law and policy, and consumer protection, UNCTAD created the Research Partnership Platform (RPP) in 2010. RPP is an initiative that aims at contributing to the development of best practices in the formulation and effective enforcement of competition and consumer protection laws and policies so as to promote development. RPP brings together researchers from research institutions, universities, competition authorities and civil society, and provides a platform where they can undertake joint research and other activities, exchange ideas on the issues and challenges in the area of competition and consumer protection faced particularly by developing countries and economies in transition.
The role of UNCTAD is to facilitate and provide guidance on the research and analysis undertaken by researchers within RPP, with a view to benefiting from the research findings in its technical assistance and capacity building activities. The research undertaken within the RPP would result in joint publications (research papers, policy briefs and research-based analytic notes) on competition law and policy, and consumer protection issues.
Since 2010, the members of the RPP, interested researchers and UNCTAD staff get together at the margins of the annual session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, and exchange views on ongoing projects and discuss new research proposals.
Currently we have nine active projects being carried out under the auspices of the RPP. During this year’s RPP meeting, we will discuss the developments within these projects and launch the UNCTAD RPP Publication Series with publications relating to output from three of these projects; Competitive Neutrality, Benchmarking of Institutions, and Competition Law and the State. We will also take the opportunity during the fifth meeting to hear new research project proposals.