Vientiane, Lao PDR - 23 competition law enforcement officials from Lao PDR, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand attended the CLIP Phasing Enforcement Workshop on 20-22 February, 2018.

The three-day workshop, which centred on peer-to-peer learning including dynamic group discussions and problem solving, aimed to assist officials in developing expertise to facilitate decision making and work prioritisation. The Phasing Enforcement Workshop also placed an emphasis on establishing effective enforcement operations and raising awareness of the need to establish a ‘credible threat of enforcement’ to deter anti-competitive conducts.

During workshop activities, officials grappled with challenging issues such as case selection, developing robust processes to underpin effective investigations, and educating the community about rights and obligations under competition law.

Highlighting the importance of the workshop, Mr Bounthiene Keosipha, Director General of the Internal Trade Department, under Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Ministry of Industry and Commerce said, “the experience and new knowledge gained from this workshop will not only be for the interest of all participants from ASEAN member states, but I am very confident that this will contribute to the implementation of the ASEAN Competition Action Plan for 2020 - 2025 and to the enhancement of relations between ASEAN and Australia in the field of competition.”

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) facilitated the workshop, in partner with the Competition Division of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The Workshop was part of the Competition Law Implementation Program (CLIP), which is managed by the ACCC under the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) Economic Cooperation Support Program (AECSP).