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Competition policy meeting to mark 30 years of un standards, discuss modern challenges


Press Release
For use of information media - Not an official record
UNCTAD/PRESS/PR/2010/044
Competition policy meeting to mark 30 years of un standards, discuss modern challenges

Geneva, Switzerland, 5 November 2010

Debate to consider effects of government anti-recession moves;voluntary peer review of Armenian competition law and policy to be held

Geneva, 5 November 2010 -- Government ministers and experts from around the world will meet from 8-12 November at UNCTAD to review how a collection of 30-year-old United Nations standards on fair economic competition applies in a much-modernized world, and how the rules might be adjusted and improved.

The 6th United Nations Conference to Review the UN Set on Competition Policy also will consider such issues as judicial review of competition cases and appropriate sanctions and remedies for violations of competition law. And it will evaluate the effectiveness of competition standards in the promotion of economic development.

The conference will open with a high-level debate at which national ministers of trade and industry will consider whether stimulus measures and various other government steps taken in response to the global recession are in keeping with competition standards. The group also will discuss how the UN rules for fair competition might help in recovery from the recession.

The UN standards are formally known as the "Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices." UNCTAD, through the mandate assigned to it in the Set, holds an annual meeting of intergovernmental experts on competition law and a review conference every five years.

Next week´s meeting will be the sixth such gathering since the Set was established in 1980. Some 500 are expected to attend, many of them representatives of national competition authorities -- government agencies set up to monitor the application of domestic laws and policies, which often are modelled on the Set. These agencies also guard against violations and in some cases may initiate legal action against alleged violators. Some 112 national competition authorities have been established since 1980.

On Tuesday afternoon, the conference is scheduled to carry out a peer review of Armenian competition law and policy. The process will feature interaction between four members of a review committee -- two each from developed and developing countries -- representatives of the Armenian Government, and competition experts in the audience. After the committee offers initial reactions and recommendations, Armenian officials will ask questions of the audience on how to meet the challenges faced by the country in the field of competition. At the end of the session, based on these interchanges, UNCTAD staff will offer a proposed capacity-building programme, based on agreement with the Amenian Government and aimed at implementing some of the recommendations contained in the review.

UNCTAD research and analysis over the past three decades has shown that increasing competition among firms should be an important component of any strategy to boost productive capacities, spur economic growth, and raise living standards in developing countries.

Evidence over the years also has indicated the widespread existence of anti-competitive practices in developing countries in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, insurance, banking, transportation, and construction. The resulting higher costs can keep economies from growing and can prevent citizens from rising out of poverty.


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