Tariffs Commission to continuously upscale investigative skills

Judith Phiri, Business Reporter

THE Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC) has said there is need to continuously train and improve their staff’s investigative skills so that they are able to identify anti-competitive behaviour in the market.

In an interview CTC director, Ms Ellen Ruparanganda said there was need to upskill their staff so that they are able to identify anti-competitive behaviours.

“As a member of the Comesa Competition Commission, a regional institution, it has arranged a number of training programmes for our investigators because they need continuous training for the simple reason that we investigate people who violate the statutes of the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28]. It’s like we are chasing after thieves and thieves also become more sophisticated with time. As a Commission, we have to continuously upscale our staff’s investigative skills so that they are also able to identify anti-competitive behaviour and concerns in the market,” said Ms Ruparanganda.

She said they have collaborated with Comesa Competition Commission and they have been trained on merger regulation investigations and restrictive practices among other things. Comesa Competition Commission is the first regional competition authority in Africa and the second in the world, after the European Competition Authority, while it is charged with the enforcement of the regulations.

Anti-competitive behaviour can take many forms, and while some forms of competition are beneficial for businesses, anti-competitive behaviour can lead to significant harm to consumers and other businesses. Such behaviours when performed by businesses limit or prevent competition.

In Zimbabwe, the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28] prohibits two main types of restrictive business practices which are restrictive practices that are considered using the rule-of-reason approach and unfair business practices that are per se prohibited.

While CTC implemented national competition policy and execution of the country’s trade tariffs policy, with the primary objective of enforcing the Competition Act, Ms Ruparanganda said for transitions and mergers taking place between Zimbabwe and another country, were handled by the Comesa Competition Commission.

“The Comesa Competition Commission looks at transactions that cover more than two Comesa Member States, while as CTC we are just looking at competition concerns that cover Zimbabwe. To give an example, when there is a multinational company that is affecting Zimbabwe and Zambia through either a transaction or merger, the Comesa Competition Commission handles that and does the investigations.”