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Toolkit for Competition
Advocacy in ASEAN
Toolkit for Competition
Advocacy in ASEAN
♦
Suitably selected, economically
relevant and politically visible
(focusing on a few big issues
that really matter, particularly
to consumers)
♦
Affordable, and not resource-
intensive (quick wins)
♦
Realistic and likely to deliver real
outcomes and successes
Every AMS will face a different context and challenge in implementing their CPL. It is therefore
important that each AMS develops a clear and concise advocacy plan that sets out the objective of its
advocacy; the stakeholders targeted by advocacy activities; as well as the supporting processes and
tools. Taking into account the country-specific context, the advocacy objectives should be:
The CA should also be proactive by identifying and addressing
at the earliest stage policy issues that are not in alignment with
CPL objectives.
Identifying strategic issues and opportunities
CPL aims to ensure a competitive market. The public and private sector form the
largest stakeholder groups for advocacy. Effective advocacy can yield significant
compliance and deterrence benefits. Moreover, advocacy activities can help CA
identify strategic issues and opportunities, and as such, they are important for case
prioritisation.
Each CA should consider analysing the complaints about potential anti-competitive
conduct that are being filed. Alternatively, data from consumer organisations
(including perception surveys) can be used. This will give an indication of the type
and volume of distortions in the market, as well as shed light on their possible
causes. It could be combined with a broader assessment of the competition
situation in the country, notably by looking at market structures and barriers to
entry in the regulatory framework. Very often, such an assessment already provides
at least “soft evidence” about competition problems for the CA to focus on.
Another option is to conduct more in-depth market studies or sector inquiries.
Typically market studies are conducted to examine why particular markets are not
working well for businesses and consumers. This involves detailed assessments
of the regulatory and economic issues affecting the market concerned. A
sound understanding of certain markets is critical before making any policy
recommendations, and it can also serve as a starting point to
initiate an investigation.
Advocacy and enforcement mutually reinforce each other and should not be
considered as independent activities. For a new or developing competition regime,
advocacy can take priority over enforcement in the initial stage. It is therefore
important for a CA to set a moratorium or grace period after which enforcement
will commence. This will give the stakeholders enough time to comply with and
understand the implications of the competition law. However, if enforcement does
not take place after a period of advocacy initiatives, advocacy then becomes
ineffective as it lacks evidence and credibility.
In the following, the main stakeholders groups and why they
matter in the context of competition advocacy are described in
more detail.
Core stakeholder groups
For successful CPL implementation, a CA needs to reach out to and effective
engage various stakeholders to build a competition culture. Competition advocacy
potentially targets a broad range of stakeholders. The CA in each of the AMS
should begin with a stakeholder-mapping exercise in order to identify at the outset
who the relevant stakeholders, their concerns and interests are. The CA should
then determine channels of access before exploring the most appropriate means to
reach them.
CPL requires a holistic, multi-stakeholder approach that engages actors from the public and private
sector, as well as civil society. They can be roughly distinguished and structured as follows:
Specific stakeholder groups (list not meant to be exhaustive)
Public sector
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Government and other public authorities
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Legislators
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Judiciary
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Staff of CA
Private sector
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Business community (incl. associations and SMEs)
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Legal community
Civil society
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Consumers
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Academia
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Media
