The Competition Commission Brunei Darussalam’s (CCBD) hosted a virtual workshop entitled “Competition Workshop for Younger Competition Agencies – First Steps” in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korea Policy Centre (KPC), last month. The one-day virtual workshop, organised under the OECD/KPC Competition Programme, was targeted at young competition agencies with the aim of facilitating knowledge and experience sharing on the first necessary steps of implementing and enforcing competition law. The workshop has brought together more than 20 officials from young competition agencies in the region including the CCBD; Myanmar Competition Commission; Lao Business Competition Commission; and the Consumer Protection Competition and Fraud Repression of Cambodia (CCF).

 

In her welcoming remarks, the Chairperson of CCBD, Yang Berhormat Nik Hafimi binti Abdul Haadii, underscored the importance of the workshop in aiding young competition agencies in building their capacity to effectively implement and enforce competition law towards achieving the overall goals of improving economic efficiency and consumer welfare.

 

Led by Professor William Kovacic from the George Washington University, the workshop explored five major implementation tasks for young competition agencies which include strengthening institutional framework; strategic priority-setting and project selection; impactful project delivery; strong external engagement; and frequent assessment and refinement. He emphasised on having the right foundation for young competition agencies to ensure effective and efficient competition law implementation.

 

Participants of the workshop were also provided with insights on the early days’ experiences of the Philippines Competition Commission (PCC)’s competition law implementation. The Chairman of PCC, Mr Arsenio Balisacan shared that the PCC leverage on technical assistance from development partners to build its resources. This has enabled the PCC to scale up and build its enforcement capacity by learning from experiences of more matured competition agencies. Equally important is the buy-in from the whole government in order to achieve the common objective of a competitive marketplace.

 

The workshop concluded with closing remarks from Mr Ruben Maximiano, Senior Competition Expert of OECD, with a positive note to further strengthen the collaboration in competition-related area between the OECD and member countries. The OECD/KPC Competition Programme provides a hub for competition officials to exchange experiences and deepen their capacities in competition law and policy through workshops and seminars.