Mauritius: PM Advocates a Trade Environment Conducive to Competition

At the opening ceremony of a workshop on the competition regime at Intercontinental Hotel in Balaclava this morning, the Prime Minister, Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, GCSK, FRCP, pointed out that the role of a Competition Commission is to ensure that innovation and creativity are rewarded while those who seek to enter into prohibited agreements and collusive practices, resulting in the distortion of competition are penalised. He added that nowhere in free market economies are predatory strategies and abuse of monopoly allowed to thrive.

The workshop is being held at the initiative of the Competition Commission on the occasion of its first anniversary.

The objective of the Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) is to create an environment conducive to competition and to stop anti-competitive practices and abuse of dominant power, so that we can have, as far as possible, a level playing field, underlined the Prime Minister.

Dr. Ramgoolam stressed that the vision of the Government is to achieve the following two important objectives, first sustain economic activity in the country through increased investments both local and foreign and secondly the enhancement of consumer welfare obtained through the availability of a larger variety of goods, of improved quality and at better prices in the market.

The setting up of a Competition Commission was also in the wider context of the opening up of the economy and the further deregulation of our internal markets which are essential measures to allow Mauritius to cope with the new imperatives of globalization and liberalization, recalled the Prime Minister.

The Competition Commission of Mauritius is a statutory body established in 2009 to enforce the Competition Act 2007. This Act established a competition regime in Mauritius, under which the CCM can investigate possible anticompetitive behavior by businesses.

This Workshop “Competition Regime in Mauritius-One Year On” is animated by Mr. Bruno Lasseres, President of Autorité de la concurrence, France, and Mr. Shan Ramburuth, Commissioner, Competition Commission South Africa, amongst others.