- set to become yet another important pillar of the region’s integration structure
SECRETARY-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mr. Edwin Carrington, said the opening of the CARICOM Competition Commission in Suriname last Friday, represents the culmination of almost four years of planning, consultations, negotiations and a variety of other actions by several parties within the Caribbean Community.

He said a notable feature of the Competition Commission is its “enforcement role”, which represents a major paradigm shift in the way the Caribbean Community does business.

Speaking at the Commission’s inauguration ceremony in Suriname, the Secretary-General stated that institution-building is a fundamental dimension of deepening the regional integration process, while noting that this is particularly so in the current phase of building the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

&Such institutions - while supporting the technical, management and operational aspects of the CSME, must be geared towards ensuring an efficient market as well as ensuring benefits to all stakeholders,” Carrington said.

What is the CARICOM Competition Commission?
This Commission, which was created under Article 171 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, is one such institution in the CSME architecture.

Like the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) and the soon to be established Regional Accreditation Body (RAB), the Competition Commission was identified as a vital Institution, where its particular focus will be on fostering efficiency in the market place, promoting consumer welfare and protecting their interest.

The Commission was said to be similar in many ways to those found in most modern and modernising Market Economies, and its role invariably involves a combination of both education and active application of competition law.

The Commission will look to settle disputes between and among competitors and seek to prevent the abuse of dominant positions in the market including seeking the interest of the consumer.

In order to perform these tasks, the Commissions are by law, normally endowed with special quasi judicial powers including powers to monitor competition in the market, receive complaints, initiate investigations and take action on complaints from aggrieved market agents and if necessary impose penalties on those in breach of the law and rules.

Carrington, however, pointed out that there are unique features of the Competition Commissions in integration movements like the Caribbean and the European Union.

These include the protection of benefits from trade liberalisation among the Member States of the integration grouping and the application of a single set of Competition Rules across all Member States comprising the market in a fair, impartial, transparent and consistent manner.

As institutions, Carrington said the operations of Competition Commissions have generally served to generate several benefits including the improvement of economic efficiency leading to greater competitiveness – which for CARIFORUM is of quintessential importance as it faces the implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

He said the Commission’s operations also seeks to provide progressive technical development; enhanced structure and organisation of markets; and bring to households and consumers a wider variety of choices and improved quality of goods and services – overall providing greater value for money.

&Clearly, if as is evident, the future economic development of the Community will be essentially market-driven, then the CARICOM Competition Commission is not only necessary but indispensable” the Secretary-General said at the opening ceremony in Suriname.