Capacity Building for Effective Competition Policy in Developing and Transitioning Economies

This note begins by briefly addressing why competition policy is important for developing and transitioning economies. It then discusses some of the critical components of building a competition culture. Ideally, this process should begin by conducting a "needs assessment" in a number of areas. This assessment likely will lead to the identification of a list of steps that should be prioritised and undertaken. The priorities often can be grouped into three broad areas, namely, helping key constituencies to "buy in" to a competition culture, minimizing the extent to which a broad range of institutional mechanisms distort competition, and building an effective competition law enforcement regime to address private anticompetitive conduct. The note then summarizes the valuable perspectives of countries that have been providers or recipients of capacity building and technical assistance. It is based upon the responses to a questionnaire circulated in 2001 to delegates of the OECD’s Competition Committee and non-members who had been invited to participate in the second Global Forum on Competition, held in February 2002. This discussion is followed by a brief discussion of the potentially helpful roles that cooperation and peer review can play in the process of building the institutional capacity of a domestic enforcement authority. After briefly discussing the Doha Declaration, the note summarises the OECD’s capacity building activities in the competition field. Finally, in the conclusion, some suggestions are offered regarding a multi-faceted strategy for future capacity building and technical assistance activities.