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COMPETITION LAW AND SECTORAL REGULATORS. Introduction. drive to deregulate and liberalize the regulated market has led to attempts at more precise economic definitions of what constitutes a natural monopoly; Competition was introduced by separating the monopolistic and competitive components.
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COMPETITION LAW AND SECTORAL REGULATORS Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Introduction • drive to deregulate and liberalize the regulated market has led to attempts at more precise economic definitions of what constitutes a natural monopoly; • Competition was introduced by separating the monopolistic and competitive components. • Based on analyses done on the competitive potential, in Electricity, telecommunications, railway and water. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Competition agencies These are macro regulators with a primary intention to protect consumer interests by prohibiting firms from: • reducing competition through colluding or merging with their rivals, • or seeking to eliminate competitors by means other than offering superior products to consumers. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Regulators – they generally cover one or a small number of sectors where it is believed that: • public interest would not be adequately advanced by relying on private markets, • Supervision by a competition agency is not adequate therefore; • Relevant institutions must be empowered to directly specify acceptable technologies, marketing methods and/or prices/tariffs charged. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Goals/objectives • Both share a concern for economic efficiency. • Their empowering statutes and administrative practices usually differ. Why Regulatory Reform? • Significant efficiency gains can be realized • lack of information and incentives to encourage the use of best available technologies • Sector capture • credible long term policy commitments required to minimize costs of capital in regulated industries. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Competition agencies and regulators - compared and contrasted. • competition law seeks to safeguard the operation of market forces, sectoral regulation serves as a substitute for market forces. • Competition policy is chiefly ex post while regulation is primarily ex ante and continuous. • regulators are much more confident that they can alter behavior despite leaving incentives unchanged. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Competition agencies and regulators - compared and contrasted continued…. • competition agencies go to court to obtain orders or levy fines, whereas regulators typically combine investigative, prosecutorial and adjudicative functions. • Both require independence from the firms they oversee. • Sector-specific regulation seeks to define jurisdictional boundaries. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
KENYA COMPETITION LAW AND SECTORAL REGULATORS • The Act came into force in February 1989. • The Act is made up of six main parts. • Objective of Kenya’s Competition Law is to encourage competition in the economy. Sector regulators • Whereas the Act is applicable to all sectors of the economy, there exist other sector regulators in the economy that operate independently. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Sector Regulators in Kenya are created by separate pieces of legislation. • They are relatively independent regulatory agencies compared to MPC. Cooperation between MPC and Sector Regulators • No harmonization nor synchronization of the responsibilities of the sector regulators viz those of MPC. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
Cooperation between MPC and Sector Regulators continued…. • MPC and other sector regulators, have continued to share information. • Quite often, the laws creating sector regulators contain a portion dealing with competition. • Sector regulators, although not obliged, are increasingly consulting with the MPC. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
The new Government has committed itself to: • enacting and enforcing laws supportive of competition; • harmonizing competition law with sectoral regulatory laws; • according the Commission requisite autonomy. • according the Commission adequate budgetary resources to enable it to regulate competition in all sectors of the economy. Competition Law & Sector Regulators: By Kanyi
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