National Reference Group Meetings

1st National Reference Group Meetings

Tanzania,15th June 2001, Dar-E-Salaam

Sri Lanka, 19th June 2001, Colombo

Zambia, 18^th June 2001, Lusaka

Pakistan, 25^th June 2001, Islamabad

INDIA, 27th June 2001,New Delhi

South Africa, 29th June 2001, Johannesburg

National Reference Group Meeting: SRI LANKA

Brief Report

National Reference Group Meeting: Sri Lanka

19th June 2001, Colombo

Meeting Agenda

1. Welcoming NRG members and setting out objectives of meeting and role of the members both in the context of the 7-Up project and in view of what we need for Sri Lanka in the medium to long term.

2. Explaining the broader project objectives and CUTS’ expectations from the project

3. Discussion/interaction between the NRG members and the paper writers/project coordinator

4. Tea

1.The project coordinator set out the main objectives of the meeting as:

To get the NRG response to the 1^st phase report – to get a reality check on the issues raised in the paper
To discuss other pertinent issues such as the nature of competition culture in our society, the lacuna in consumer organizations, and the proposed Consumer Protection Bill

The coordinator also explained the expected role of the NRG forum as to:

Provide input on specific project-related activities and output
Create an informal group that could assist in advocacy, awareness building and carry the issue of competition policy beyond the termination of this particular project

2. Ujjwal Kumar, the CUTS representative at the meeting, explained the broader context of the 7-Up Project and the parameters within which the Sri Lanka component was expected to operate. He also provided a background on CUTS and set out CUTS’ expectations from the project

a) Discussion on the paper:

In general the NRG members endorsed the views expressed in the paper
However, the overall view was that whilst the paper had provided a good account of the competition policy regime in the past, it needed to pay more attention to current practical concerns such as whether or not the proposed Bill addressed the problems faced by the previous regime
The paper writers acknowledged that this was necessary and informed the CUTS representative of the need to have more flexibility to address such concerns over and above the uniform report format provided by CUTS

b) Discussion on other pertinent competition policy issues:

The Group felt that mere legislation would not bring about a strong competition culture. A three-pronged approach was suggested: strengthening consumers, strengthening technical expertise within the Competition Authority, (CA) and strengthening enforcement capacity
The low wage structure was cited as one of the most significant problems facing the CA and preventing it from attracting skilled professionals. One of the suggestions made was a private sector cess to fund the CA
The Group felt that the proposed Bill would not resolve the current problems in regard to competition and may even compound them. Some of the shortcomings cited were:
- The establishment of both an Authority and a Council would exacerbate the problem of lack of skilled cadre
- The exclusion of state enterprises under the Bill and the ability of the state to give further monopolies would be a dangerous precedent
- The Bill fails to bring in provisions on advertising and intellectual property rights
- The Bill does not allow for interim orders by the CA
The Group attributed the problem of low profile and weak consumer organizations in the country to the general tendency to look to the government for regulation; co-regulation is an alien concept.

CONTACT US

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