UN Sixth Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices
8 Apr 2010
In preparation for the Conference, UNCTAD is holding a series of regional meetings to identify the challenges and special circumstances of each regional group. The first meeting took place earlier this year in Tunis and targeted the member States of the Organization of Islamic Countries.
UNCTAD will be hosting the Sixth Conference to Review All Aspects of the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (also known as the UN Set of Principles and Rules on Competition) in Geneva from 8 to 12 November 2010.
The Conference will mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Set of Principles and Rules on Competition. It will review the experience gained in the application of the Set, exchange views on matters of implementation, consider proposals for improving the Set and decide on the direction of UNCTAD's future work in this area.
The Competition and Consumer Policies Branch of UNCTAD is organizing a series of regional preparatory meetings ahead of the Sixth Conference in order to sensitize stakeholders on the event and its agenda and collect feedback from stakeholders that will be used in preparing studies for discussion at the Conference.
The Tunis meeting for member States of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). was part of a seminar on the present status and prospects of competition policies and regulations in OIC member States. The seminar was attended by representatives of competition authorities and government departments dealing with competition issues, as well as representatives of the European Union, OECD and UNCTAD.
Discussions in Tunis also covered the issues to be debated at the Sixth Conference, including the implementation of competition law and policy; review of the experience gained in the implementation of the United Nations Set, including voluntary peer reviews; the role of competition policy in promoting economic development; and the effectiveness of UNCTAD's capacity-building and technical assistance to newly established competition authorities.
UNCTAD made presentations on other topics to be addressed by the Sixth Review Conference, including appropriate sanctions and remedies; the use of leniency programmes as a tool for the enforcement of competition law against hardcore cartels in developing countries; and judicial review in competition cases. The discussions that followed focused on the usefulness of leniency programmes in developing countries and in young competition regimes.
Subsequent presentations explored the topics of appropriate design and enforcement of competition law and policy in countries at different stages of market development, and the effectiveness of UNCTAD's technical assistance and capacity-building in the field of competition law and policy.
Source:UNCTAD
