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	Table of Contents
p. 41 of 62 BACK | NEXT Purpose and Structure of the Toolkit Overview of Practices Controlled by Competition Law Countries with Competition Law Systems Benefits of Competition Policy Practices Controlled by Competition Law Key Concepts and Tools Competition, Privatization, and Regulation Emerging Economies Does Everyone Benefit From Competitive Markets? All Economies Suffer from Anti-Competitive Practices Competition Policy, Competitiveness and Productivity Competition Advocacy: Effective Tool Against Special Pleading Need for Merger Control Importance of Granting Resources to Competition Authorities Consumers' Empowerment Education Regional Solutions UN Conference, November 2005 Enforcement Mechanisms ADB Resources and Projects Other Resources Glossary and List of Abbreviations

Competition Law Toolkit : Emerging Economies

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G. Consumers' Empowerment

A key problem in many developing and transition economies that have recently introduced competition laws is that newly-created competition authorities find that they are confronted by a combination of lack of awareness of civil society and consumers as to the purpose of competition policy, and powerful self-interested groups who have no interest in promoting an effectively competitive economy. It can be very difficult in these circumstances for a competition authority to make its voice heard as an effective advocate of competition.

The Capacity Building and Policy Implementation Working Group of the International Competition Network presented a report at the Mexico meeting on this issue in 2003. It identified five key stakeholder groups whose support, or at least respect, for competition policy is considered to be critical to the successful introduction of competition law. These are the government, the judiciary, the business community, the legal and economics professions, and the broad community of consumers. The working group is taking this project further with particular emphasis on the need to develop the understanding and support of consumers. The premise of this work is that it is not sufficient that competition policy should be understood and implemented by a small community of specialists (i.e., lawyers, economists, and regulators), but that it must be actively supported by consumers. The particular importance of this in developing countries is noted, where the relevance of competition policy to the urgent need to alleviate poverty has to be understood. However, the Working Group makes clear that competition authorities should not make extravagant claims for the benefits of competition policy which cannot be justified in practice.

Document Enhancing the Standing of Competition Authorities with Consumers [ PDF ] A Project Proposal for Submission to the Seoul ICN Conference

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