./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/300
6 August 1999
(99-3338)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
The Interaction Between Trade and Competition Policy
Communication from Kenya on behalf of the African Group
The following communication, dated 29 July 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Kenya.
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Background
1. The Working Group on the Interaction between Trade and Competition Policy (WGTCP) was
established at the first WTO Ministerial Conference, in 1996, in Singapore.  The mandate of the
Group was educative, exploratory and analytical.  The WTO African Group has maintained active
participation in the work of the WGTCP with papers being presented by individual African countries,
including a joint communication by the Group to the Intersessional Process of the General Council.
2. The African Group believes that competitive markets are vital aspects of the complex process
of development.  Competition law and policy are essential aspects of the development dimension to
trade policy.  The positive relationship between competition policy, efficiency, consumer welfare andeconomic development is now generally recognized.  The exchange of views in the WGTCP and the
various presentations of national experiences have demonstrated that competition law and policy are
important and necessary in reinforcing the objectives of trade liberalization.  Collusive arrangements
and exclusionary practices can significantly diminish the gains of trade.
3. The African Group has long recognized the signficant potential development dividends that
could accrue from the reform process underway in Af rican countries, including in trade policy, with
the application, inter alia  of competition policy.  This was why it gave its support to the
December 1998 Decision by the General Council for the continuation of the work of the WGTCP,
including focussed discussion on:
• the relevance of fundamental WTO principles of national treatment, transparency, and
most-favoured-nation treatment to competition policy and vice versa;
• approaches to promoting cooperation and communication among Members, including
in the field of technical cooperation;
• the contribution of competition policy to achieving the objectives of the WTO,
including the promotion of international trade;  andWT/GC/W/300
Page 2
• issues raised by Members relating to the interaction between trade and competition
policy, including anti-competitive practices.
4. Nonetheless, work underway in the WGTCP s hows that only a limited number of African
countries have domestic legislation on competition law and policy or effective enforcement agencies.
Furthermore, capacity in this area is minimal for various reasons, including, but not limited toresource constraints.
Proposal
5. Having regard to the foregoing, Ministers should mandate the:
(a) continuation of the educative, exploratory and analytical work of the WGTCP;
(b) assistance to developing countries, in particular African countries, to participate more
effectively in the work of the WGTCP;
(c) establishment of a special competition technical assistance programme in
collaboration with UNCTAD, adequately and sufficiently funded, and especially
designed to meet the individual needs of developing countries, in particular African
countries, in the area of work related to competition policy;
(d) strengthening and assisting those with existing legislation and agencies who request
such assistance;
(e) elaboration of practical approaches to institution and capacity-building that will
economise on costs;  and
(f) promotion of coherence between competition policy and related laws/policies and
WTO disciplines in the context of international coherence initiatives.
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