Public Interest Considerations Under The EAC Merger Control

The 2025 East African Community (EAC) Competition Act requires the EAC Competition Authority (Authority) to consider public interest concerns as part of their assessment of notified transactions. While public interest considerations existed within the EAC competition regime prior to the most recent change, the new Regulation expanded their role. These changes align with general trends across Africa with relevant regional regimes such as the COMESA and ECOWAS merger control regimes expanding the role of public interest considerations in merger control review.

Inn their assessment of transactions the Authority shall primarily assess whether transactions substantially lessens competition within the Common Market. In doing so the Authority considers a range of competition-focused factors, including market structure, barriers to entry, countervailing buyer power, and efficiencies arising from the transaction. Public interest considerations do not form part of this substantive assessment.