An ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand Heads of Competition Agencies meeting was held on 27 April 2016, at the sidelines of the Annual Conference of the International Competition Network (ICN) in Singapore. This was the first meeting of such senior officials responsible for competition from ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, which are partners under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA). Under AANZFTA, the Parties have recognised the importance of regional cooperation to promote competition, economic efficiency, and consumer welfare and to curtail anti-competitive practices.

The Meeting provided a forum for senior representatives of the region’s competition agencies to exchange views and share experiences on the challenges faced in developing and implementing competition law. The importance of cooperating and working closely together to exchange information on competition issues was recognised, while also noting that business activities in the region increasingly have a cross-border dimension. 

The Meeting acknowledged that a number of ASEAN Member States (AMS) recently enacted competition laws and discussed the key issues faced by younger competition authorities in ASEAN. For example, younger competition agencies highlighted the importance of building political will/support, which includes commitments to provide competition agencies with adequate resources to promote a pro-competition environment. At a practical level, it was noted that there is an immediate need to build the skills and enforcement capacity of the region’s competition agencies, including among commissioners, working staff, as well as the judiciary.  

The Meeting agreed on the significant value that the Competition Law Implementation Programme (CLIP) Phase II, funded by the AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Programme (AECSP), could contribute in addressing some of these challenges faced by AMS. Moving forward, the Meeting identified the need for ongoing technical assistance, particularly in terms of facilitating the institutional set-up of competition authorities and conducting training on case handling, investigations, market studies, and economic analysis. Additionally, the Programme could also support efforts to increase coordination and exchange of information among AANZFTA competition agencies.

The Meeting was hosted by Mr Toh Han Li, Chief Executive of the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) and Mr Rod Sims, Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The discussions were facilitated by Ms. Anna Wu, Chairperson of the Hong Kong Competition Commission (HKCC). 

This is also the first time that all AMS including the non-ICN members attended the ICN 2016. ASEAN at this ICN took the opportunity to launch Toolkit on Competition Advocacy in ASEAN which was made possible with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), with funding from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) of Germany.