Nothing remains static.
As a regulator, the Competition Commission has to constantly evolve to ensure we respond promptly to emerging challenges. This compels us to take seriously the need to rethink traditional approaches to competition law and regulation.
This thinking reverberated throughout the panel discussions of the recent 19th Annual Competition Law, Economics, and Policy Conference held at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town.
Throughout the years, the annual conference has been a platform for the commission to engage heads of competition authorities, practitioners, competition policy experts, representatives of international organisations, and other stakeholders from across the globe to discuss competition policy amid these changing global markets. This is with a view to informing the best approaches to competition law and enforcement going forward.
We thank the delegates who journeyed with us as we discussed the evolving landscape of competition policy and regulation and the role of competition authorities in creating greater access to credit and loans for small businesses; who navigated the potential direction of competition policy across the continent under the African Continental Free Trade Area; and who discussed competition enforcement in a changing economic order.
Deputy trade, industry, and competition minister Zuko Godlimpi delivered a moving keynote address in which he emphasised that we need to foster dynamic, inclusive, and open markets through which innovation, productivity, and long-term growth can be realised. To achieve this, we need to remain agile, especially as digital markets continue to expand and with the emergence of artificial intelligence.
The chairperson of the commission’s tribunal, Mondo Mazwai, also weighed in and remarked that “applying current legal and economic frameworks underpinning a competition assessment remains the starting point to address the challenges that come with markets being reshaped by economic shifts, affected by trade, or displaced by technological advances. Competition laws, if properly formulated and applied, remain appropriate tools in the kit to deal with change.”
We understand that the relevance of competition policy is frequently being questioned at both local and international levels, as well as its role in increasing global competitiveness.
Closing the conference, competition commissioner Doris Tshepe emphasised the opportunity to listen to different perspectives so that SA can chart its way forward holistically. This ensures that competition policy remains a beacon of fairness, a driver of prosperity and a solution for the uncertain times that lie ahead.
All of these sentiments found expression at the two-day ninth Brics International Competition Conference held at the same venue later in the week.
* Makunga is spokesperson for the Competition Commission of SA
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.