Draft COMESA Regulations Propose Significant Changes To The COMESA Competition Law Regime

On 24 January 2024, the COMESA Competition Commission ('Commission') issued a request for comments on its proposed draft COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations ('Draft Regulations'), which will serve to update, and substantially amend, the current COMESA Competition Regulations, 2004 ('Regulations').

The Regulations were adopted and entered into force in 2004, although the Commission only began actively enforcing the Regulations when it commenced operations in January 2013.

Now, with the benefit of more than a decade of enforcement experience, the Commission has conducted a review of the Regulations and is proposing several material changes that the Commission believes will address some of the practical challenges that it has faced when implementing and enforcing the Regulations in the COMESA Common Market during this period.