Technical assistance and capacity building in competition and consumer protection for African Portuguese speaking developing countries and East Timor

Competition law seeks to encourage and safeguard competition in markets by making anti- competitive agreements and conduct illegal and to constrain economic power by punishing its abuse and by regulating mergers and acquisitions to reduce the risk of monopoly and oligopoly.

Consumer protection laws and regulations are government interventions to ensure fair interactions between consumers and service providers.

Within the group of African Portuguese-speaking Countries and Timor-Leste, only Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique have adopted legislation and have established the public institutions needed to implement and enforce competition law and consumer protection.

This technical cooperation project, funded by the Government of Portugal, aims to facilitate the adoption and effective implementation of competition and consumer protection frameworks and foster cooperation between the nation-states with Portuguese as an official language in Africa - referred to by the acronym PALOP (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa.

Objective

The objective of the project is to foster the adoption and improvement of competition and cconsumer laws and policies by building capacities within the authorities of beneficiary countries with the support of more advanced Portuguese and Brazilian authorities.

Activities

Advisory services, training for experts,  government officials and relevant stakeholders. 

Intended Outcomes

The primary outcome is the adoption, improvement and effective implementation of competition and consumer law and policies in beneficiary countries and the establishment of regional cooperation between the beneficiary countries in these areas.

Link to the SDGs

Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The project’s monitoring and evaluation will consider:  the number of capacity building activities; the number of government staff trained; cooperation agreements, legislation and policies fostered and resulting from the project; as well as the feedback from beneficiaries.

• Events & meetings