Competition Law at Uganda
⚖️ Legal Framework
Legislation: The Competition Act, 2023 (Act 5 of 2023) was passed by the Ugandan Parliament on 1 September 2023 and received presidential assent on 2 February 2024.
Objective: The Act aims to promote and sustain fair competition in Uganda's markets, prevent practices that adversely affect competition, and protect consumers.
📜 Key Provisions
Anticompetitive Practices: Prohibits agreements or practices that restrict competition, such as price-fixing, market-sharing, and bid-rigging.
Abuse of Dominant Position: Addresses behaviors by firms holding a dominant market position that harm competition, including predatory pricing and refusal to deal.
Merger Control: Requires notification and approval of mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures that meet specified thresholds, to prevent excessive market concentration.
Public Interest Considerations: Incorporates factors such as employment, economic stability, and the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into competition assessments.
🏢 Enforcement Authority
Regulatory Body: The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives is designated as the principal authority responsible for enforcing the Competition Act.
Technical Committee: Within the Ministry, a Technical Committee is empowered to investigate and penalize businesses engaging in anti-competitive practices.
🔄 Implementation Status
Regulations: The Ministry is required to issue detailed regulations to operationalize the Act. As of October 2024, these regulations had not been finalized, leading to uncertainty among market participants.
⚠️ Concerns and Criticisms
Monopolistic Legislation: The Petroleum Supply (Amendment) Act 2023, which mandates that all licensed oil marketing companies purchase petroleum products from the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), has been criticized for creating a monopoly and conflicting with the Competition Act's objectives.
Regulatory Clarity: The delay in issuing regulations has resulted in an unpredictable environment, with unclear guidelines on what constitutes anti-competitive practices.
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