14th Conference of Heads of State of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)

a) The revised community competition rules of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). These rules were based on the best existing practices in this area including the United Nations Set on competition law and policy. The revised competition rules for the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) contains a provision establishing gender parity in the composition of the board of the regional competition authority to be created in this region. This constitute an innovative way to improve the participation of women in the ruling system related to the enforcement of competition law in Africa. This innovation is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is reinforced by paragraph 55 (bb) of the Nairobi Maafikiano, which recommends that UNCTAD “reinforce its work on the links between gender equality, women’s and girls’ empowerment and trade and development, and support member States in the design and implementation of policies and the establishment of institutions that support women’s economic empowerment, economic security and rights, and enhance their economic opportunities”.

 

b) The regional Guidelines on consumer protection for Central Africa based on the United Nations Guidelines for consumer protection (UNCGP). This instrument will boost the improvement of consumer protection policies of the members, considering that in most countries of the CEMAC Region there is no specific consumer protection legislation and/or enforcing authority.   It is expected that the adoption of the regional Guidelines, which include specific wording on sustainable consumption, will inspire member countries to adopt national consumer protection policies containing relevant provisions to promote sustainable consumption for the welfare of their citizens.

These two relevant community-level regulations were elaborated in the framework of UNCTAD’s regional programme to strengthen competition and consumer protection law and policy in Central Africa. They will allow the harmonization and strengthening of consumer protection and competition policies in the Central African region, contributing to their economic development in a sustainable and inclusive manner in line with the 2030 objectives.

 

This programme funded thanks to the generosity of the European Union (EU) from 2017 to 2019.