JAKARTA, 26 August 2022 – Following the launch of the inaugural ASEAN Capacity Building Roadmap (ACBR) in 2017, the ASEAN Experts Group on Competition (AEGC) has issued an updated ACBR which provides a schedule of proposed capacity building measures which, when implemented, will equip competition authorities to strengthen their capacity to enforce competition law and policy in the region. The Roadmap recommends capacity building initiatives for the period of 2021-2025.

The ACBR 2021 – 2025 was developed by analysing the regional capacity building activities conducted under the preceding ACBR 2017-2020 against capacity building needs for the next five years. Under the ACBR 2017-2020, a total of 42 activities were carried out during the period, with the majority of activities focused on enforcement (17), followed by institution building (9), economics (8), mergers (5) and legal (2).

The updated Roadmap identifies two main pillars of capacity building needs: the Enforcement Pillar and the Institution Building Pillar. It is designed around six (6) categories of activities - Fundamental Training, Advocacy, Enforcement, Institution Building, Thematic Training and Cooperation. Each category includes suggested activities to be undertaken for the five-year period.

The ACBR adopts a menu-style design, allowing flexibility for the AMS when selecting capacity building activities catered to their needs. Considering the different development phase amongst the AMS, the menu-style roadmap is useful for the planning of sub-regional workshops and may also be a reference for national capacity building activities. The focus of this ARCBR is the building of knowledge and capacity of competition authority staff on the three pillars of competition law (anti-competitive practices, abuse of dominance and anti-competitive mergers) as well as on competition economics.

This ACBR is consistent with the 2015 AEC Blueprint and forms part of Outcomes 2.1 of the ACAP 2025 which requires the AEGC to ‘conduct assessment and map of national and regional capacity needs related to CPL’.

Download the ACBR here.