CUTS Daily Bulletin # 01 | July 07, 2025
Opening Plenary Meeting
 
The opening plenary of the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection marked a major milestone—commemorating 45 years of the UN Set of Principles and Rules on Competition and 40 years of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection. Set against a context of global uncertainty, including rising geopolitical tensions, economic volatility, and rapid technological shifts, the session reaffirmed the critical importance of fair competition and strong consumer protection as pillars of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development. Key takeaways from the discussions included the following.
  1. World Compettion Day on 5th December: Considering the fact that the Set was adopted on 5th December, the delegate from Burkina Faso suggested that the Day be celebrated as World Competition Day, a long term proposal made by CUTS and being so observed around the world. This will help competition authorities to raise awaremess on Competition issues.
     
  2. Market Concentration in Strategic Sectors: Speakers raised concerns about critical market concentration, particularly in agrochemicals and digital technology. Four firms now control 70% of agrochemical markets, while the six most valuable technology companies are collectively worth $16.7 trillion—highlighting an imbalance that undermines innovation, restricts access, and threatens market fairness for developing economies and small players.
     
  3. Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Divide: While AI presents significant opportunities, it also risks deepening global and gender inequalities. Developed countries dominate AI infrastructure, policy, and data access, while many low-income countries—especially women—remain digitally excluded. Participants stressed the urgent need for transparent, equitable, and accountable AI governance frameworks to ensure fairness and protect consumer rights globally.
     
  4. Evolving Competition Law Paradigms: The session explored the broadening of the consumer welfare standard to include counterparty welfare, labour impacts, and sustainability considerations. Jurisdictions are diverging for instance, U.S. merger guidelines now factor in labour market effects, while South Africa balances employment concerns against consumer benefits. These shifts reflect growing tension between traditional price-based analyses and more holistic, inclusive approaches. However, the speaker did not trace the history of competition law from dominance to abuse of dominance as the paradigmatic shift in 1990s.
     
  5. From Policy Convergence to Interoperability: Acknowledging the challenges of harmonizing diverse legal and political systems, participants called for “semantic interoperability”—a shared operational understanding between jurisdictions. This would facilitate deeper cross-border cooperation while respecting national sovereignty, and enable more responsive, adaptive governance models involving authorities, academia, civil society, and courts.
     
  6. Agility and Inclusion in Enforcement: Given the pace of innovation, speakers advocated for agile enforcement mechanisms such as regulatory sandboxes, flexible legal tools, and inclusive rulemaking. This modernized approach aims to replace rigid, litigation-heavy frameworks with solution-oriented models grounded in participation and cross-sectoral collaboration.
     
  7. Statements from Member States: Mauritius highlighted the vulnerabilities of small island economies to digital and trade shocks and called for greater technical assistance and integration into global regulatory development. The Gambia shared its strides in strengthening market surveillance and legal reforms through its independent competition authority. Iran outlined its legal and institutional efforts to protect consumers, emphasizing the role of civil society and public participation. Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina Faso expressed support for multilateral cooperation and transparency. Burkina Faso proposed the institutionalization of World Competition Day on December 5th—an initiative long supported by CUTS—reflecting growing international momentum toward establishing a global observance that champions fair competition and consumer rights.
(Reporting by Mritunjai Kapila, CUTS International, Geneva)
The Second Session of the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection
 
The second session of the Conference focused on the implementation of the UN Set of Principles on Restrictive Business Practices, marking a significant milestone with the review of 20 years of Voluntary Peer Reviews (VPRs). UNCTAD presented an assessment of global progress, complemented by expert insights on emerging trends, policy challenges, and opportunities to strengthen competition law and enforcement—particularly in developing and transition economies. The key takeaways from the session are outlined below.
  1. Explosive Growth in Competition Law Adoption: Competition laws are now in place in 140 countries, up from 25 at the UN Set’s inception. Recent adopters include the Maldives, Cambodia, Lebanon, Mauritania, and Guatemala. Since 2005, UNCTAD’s Voluntary Peer Reviews have supported 30 jurisdictions in enhancing their competition frameworks.
     
  2. Key Global Trends: Panellists highlighted stronger ex-ante merger control, streamlined processes, growing bilateral cooperation—such as the Egypt–Kenya statement—and the rising integration of sustainability into competition policy.
     
  3. Addressing Digital Market Challenges: The session addressed key digital market concerns—monopolisation, algorithmic collusion, data dominance, and self-preferencing—alongside global responses such as the EU Digital Markets Act, UK frameworks, and U.S. actions against Google and META. Some jurisdictions are also investing in digital forensic labs to bolster enforcement.
     
  4. Integrating Sustainability in Competition Policy: Speakers noted the increasing integration of sustainability into competition policy, citing initiatives by Austria, Japan, and the EU, as well as recent trade agreements including sustainability clauses, such as those between the UK–Ecuador and Ecuador–China. Hpwever, speakers did not describe sustainability as a comprehensive science which is a combination of economy, equity and ecology, and go along with the popular misconception to include only environment.
     
  5. Enforcement Improvements: Authorities are increasing resources for cartel enforcement, tougher penalties, and digital tools, with 85% of EU investigations now coordinated with national agencies.
     
  6. Concerning Developments: Panellists warned that emerging foreign investment screenings and counter-sanctions risk undermining competition principles and reducing regulatory transparency.
     
  7. Future Directions: From Convergence to Interoperability: The discussion emphasized “semantic interoperability” as a flexible model for global cooperation, enabling system alignment without full legal harmonization and fostering innovative, multilateral collaboration.
     
  8. Implementation Challenges for Developing Countries: Developing countries face persistent resource and capacity challenges, though regional initiatives like the African Continental Competition Authority offer promising models for collaborative enforcement and institutional growth.
     
  9. Role of Civil Society: Alas, the role of civil society was not mentioned, as Friends of Competion who help competition regimes in various ways. Furthermore, while civil society participate in such meetings, they do not get an apportunity to speak due to a surfeit of officials and ministers who end up making anodyne statements prepared by their staff.  
The session featured expert contributions from Prof. Frédéric Jenny, Mr. Nuno Cunha Rodrigues, and Mr. David Kemei.

(Reporting by Mritunjai Kapila, CUTS International, Geneva)
Session 3 – Report on the Implementation of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection and the Work of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts (IGE)
 
The third session of the 9th United Nations Conference on Competition and Consumer Protection reviewed global progress in implementing the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, with national case studies from Costa Rica, the Russian Federation, South Korea, and Egypt. The key takeaways from the session were as follows:
  1. Digital Consumer Protection Challenges: Panellists noted rising digital consumer risks and highlighted the EU’s proposed Digital Fairness Act (2026), aimed at curbing manipulative design, data misuse, and protecting minors—particularly in the gaming sector.
     
  2. Product Safety in Cross-Border E-Commerce: Panellists underscored the urgency of modernizing product safety regulations amid growing cross-border e-commerce, citing over 25% of EU consumers purchasing from non-EU vendors and 12 million parcels entering the EU daily. A global framework was deemed essential to ensure effective enforcement and harmonized safety standards online.
     
  3. Costa Rica’s National Consumer Protection Framework: Costa Rica’s consumer protection framework, rooted in Article 46 of its Constitution and implemented through Law 7472, is based on four pillars: consumer education and empowerment, institutional strengthening, accessible extra-judicial dispute resolution, and a sustainability-oriented approach to digital consumption and consumer rights.
     
  4. Russian Federation’s Consumer Protection System: The Russian Federation’s consumer protection system is led by Rospotrebnadzor, a state supervisory authority coordinating with entities such as the Central Bank, Financial Ombudsman, and regional public unions. Its annual state report tracks progress, with notable advancements in digital product labelling.
     
  5. Digital Labelling and Market Transformation: Russia’s digital labelling system tracks 27 product categories, covering over 100 billion units annually, with plans to expand to 17 more. With 900,000 companies enrolled and 120 million unique products reviewed, it represents a major digital advancement in consumer protection and is recommended as a model for global adoption.
     
  6. South Korea’s Advanced Dispute Resolution and Enforcement Tools: South Korea highlighted its three-stage consumer redress system—consultation, damage redress, and mediation—which has resolved 94 collective cases and provided $16 million in compensation to over 500,000 consumers. An AI-powered complaint portal and voluntary safety pledges by major e-commerce platforms have also resulted in the removal of more than 1.1 million hazardous products from online marketplaces.
     
  7. International Cooperation and Future Directions: South Korea has signed MOUs with 26 institutions in 18 countries, resolving over 700 cross-border consumer disputes. It promotes informed consumer choice through comparison tools, with future efforts focused on digital protection, data privacy, and fair contract practices.
     
  8. Egypt’s Institutional Reform and Food Security: Egypt emphasized the link between consumer protection and food security, highlighting institutional reforms and partnerships with FAO and WFP to strengthen outcomes in essential sectors.
The session featured insights from a distinguished panel of experts, including Ms. Ana Gallego Torres, Mr. S. Farouk, Mr. Marco Arroyo Flores, Ms. Anna Popova, and Mr. Soo Hyun Yoon.

(Reporting by Mritunjai Kapila, CUTS International, Geneva)
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