Meeting on global economic competitiveness

Government ministers and experts from around the world are meeting at UNCTAD to review how a collection of 30-year-old United Nations (UN) standards on fair economic competition applies in a much-modernised world, and how the rules might be adjusted and improved.

The sixth United Nations Conference to Review UN Set on Competition Policy -- that is meeting from November 8 to November 12 -- will consider such issues as judicial review of competition cases and appropriate sanctions and remedies for violations of competition law.

It will also evaluate the effectiveness of competition standards in the promotion of economic development. The conference will open with a high-level debate at which national ministers of trade and industry will consider whether stimulus measures and various other government steps taken in response to the global recession are in keeping with competition standards.

The group also will discuss how the UN rules for fair competition might help in recovery from the recession. The UN standards are formally known as the 'Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices'.

UNCTAD -- through the mandate assigned to it in the Set -- holds an annual meeting of intergovernmental experts on competition law and a review conference every five years.

The meeting will be the sixth such gathering since the Set was established in 1980. Some 500 are expected to attend, many of them representatives of national competition authorities -- government agencies set up to monitor the application of domestic laws and policies, which often are modelled on the Set. These agencies also guard against violations and in some cases may initiate legal action against alleged violators.

Some 112 national competition authorities have been established since 1980. On Tuesday afternoon, the conference is scheduled to carry out a peer review of Armenian competition law and policy. The process will feature interaction between four members of a review committee -- two each from developed and developing countries -- representatives of the Armenian Government, and competition experts in the audience.

UNCTAD research and analysis over the past three decades has shown that increasing competition among firms should be an important component of any strategy to boost productive capacities, spur economic growth, and raise living standards in developing countries.

Evidence over the years also has indicated the widespread existence of anti-competitive practices in developing countries in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, insurance, banking, transportation, and construction. The resulting higher costs can keep economies from growing and can prevent citizens from rising out of poverty.