The Office of Consumer Protection (OCP), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) conducted a two day webinar on,
‘Understanding the tools and methodology to carry out Competition Impact Assessment (CIA)’ on 12th -13th April at Paro to enable the taskforce members in developing a Competition Impact Assessment Guidelines (CIA-G). As per the provision 7.2 of the National Competition Policy (NCP) 2020, it states that there shall be a competition impact assessment (CIA) carried out for new and existing economy policy or law proposed by government agencies for its potential impact on competition in the markets. The following important topics were covered during the webinar:
- Role of competition in promoting economic growth and development in Bhutan
- Impact evaluation methodology
- The application of competition Impact assessment principles to regulations and public policies
- The application of CIA to an international airline case
- Implementation strategies and compliance: Planning and stakeholders consultations
- The importance of stakeholder’s consultation and institutions
- The importance of promoting competition assessment principles in public procurement
- The importance of competition neutrality in competition Impact assessment
- Alternatives to competition policy
The webinar was facilitated by the following professionals with vast experiences in the field of competition:
- Hassan Qaqaya, Former Head of the UN Competition and Consumer Programme at UNCTAD, Senior FELLOW, Melbourne Law School
- Mrs Shila Dorai Raj, Former Head, Malaysia Competition Commission, international Expert
- Professor Deborah Healy, NSW University, Sydney, Australia
- Professor Mark Williams Expert in Competition Law in Asian and Eu laws
- Dr Joseph Wilson, Former Commissioner, Pakistan Competition Commission, International Competition Expert
- Ms Leni Papa, OECD, and former member of the Philippine Competition Commission