UNCTAD presented the results of the peer review of Nicaragua at the American University of Managua on 22 October and made a proposal for a technical assistance project to implement the peer review's recommendations.
The Voluntary Peer Review of Competition Law and Policy is the final phase of a technical assistance cycle that typically begins with the formulation of a competition policy framework, and is followed by the adoption of a competition law, the setting-up of a competition authority, and the provision of training to enforce the law.
The peer review process begins with the drafting of a report on the state of competition in the country, the legal and institutional framework for the protection of competition in markets, and the performance of the competition authority. One section of the report is given over to recommendations. In the case of Nicaragua, these include:
increasing the resources of Procompetencia (the competition authority);
reforming article 15 of the competition law to give Procompetencia powers to investigate and sanction anticompetitive practices in regulated sectors;
deepening the economic analyses in cases;
enhancing Procompetencia's investigative powers; and
continuing with competition advocacy efforts.
On the basis of that report, a peer review session was held in Geneva on 10 July 2013, as part of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy. It was chaired by the Director-General of Malta's Office for Competition. The reviewers were the competition authorities of Colombia, Peru and the United States.
The event in Managua was opened by the University Dean, and was well attended. UNCTAD made a detailed presentation on the peer review process, on the report on the peer review of Nicaragua, and on the UNCTAD proposal for a technical assistance project to implement the peer review's recommendations. This was followed by a debate on the role of sector regulators in enforcing competition law, and on merger review, among other issues.
UNCTAD's mission to Nicaragua lasted three days. Besides the dissemination event, bilateral meetings were held with the Minister of Finance, the Superintendent of Banks, the Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Human Rights Prosecutor, among other relevant stakeholders from Nicaragua's public and private sectors.
