Bangladesh Country Advocacy
Document
•Iftekar Ahmed
•Senior Research Fellow, BEI
•January 2, 2006
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute
Competition Law/Policy in
Bangladesh
• No Competition Policy
• Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice
(Control and Prevention) Ordinance, 1970
• Has not been implemented but still valid
• Ordinance prohibits
– Undue concentration of individual economic
power
– Unreasonable monopoly power
– Unreasonable restrictive trade practices
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MRTP Ordinance 1970
• Relevant phrases are not properly
explained
• Provides for the creation of a Monopoly
Control Authority to enforce the provisions
of the Ordinance, but was never constituted
• Never been implemented
• If revived needs amendments
• Need for a new law
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute
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Most Prevalent Anti-Competitive
Practices in Bangladesh
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
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Challenges
• Challenges to instituting a competition
regime are enormous
• No quick and simple remedy that will be
immediately effective across the board
• Even if a law is drafted, past experience
shows poor implementation with weak
enforcement
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Develop Constituency
• Targeted stakeholders for advocacy and
capacity building
– Government
• sensitize and motivate
– Business
• demonstrate benefits of a competition regime
– Media
• galvanize wider public understanding and support
– Consumers
• empower to champion and act as pressure group
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Three-Step Process
Step 1: Create demand
– Raise awareness of stakeholders
Step 2: Draft/Amend/Adopt Law
– capacity building of policy makers
– wide consultation
Step 3: Implementation and enforcement of
law
– capacity building of the Competition Authority
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Strategy 1: Target Sectors
• Identify priority sectors
• Selection Criteria:
– High visibility
– Wide impact
– Rapid implementation
– Demonstrable benefits
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Strategy 2: Information Cell
• Create an Information Cell and Consumer
Hotline
• Monitor abuses of market power
• Generate competition status reports
• Provide dialogue space for stakeholders
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Strategy 3: Consumer Awareness
• Information dissemination
• Conduct training on competition issues
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Strategies
Step 1
Step 2
Create Demand
Draft Law
Strategy 1:
Target Sectors
Strategy 2:
Information Cell
Strategy 3:
Consumer Awareness
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Step 3
Implement Law
government
competition regime
market
Competition
Authority
business
Trade
bodies
consumer
Media
information
cell
informed
consumer
civil society
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute