Watchdog works on review plan

THE Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) is working with Treasury to table in Parliament its first major review report of its national competition policy.
One of the significant amendments to the Act is its merger control regime switching to mandatory from voluntary, Commissioner and chief executive Paulus Ain said.
Ain told a senior officials meeting in Port Moresby yesterday that the review would enable improvements to its policy regarding competition, consumer protection and economic regulation of utility service providers.
“We have begun the process to amend the ICCC Act to change the current merger control regime from voluntary to mandatory,” he said.
“We are pleased to advise that one of the major recommendations of the review is the establishment of PNG’s national competition policy.
“The work that competition agencies do in taking enforcement actions against anti-competitive conduct or to advocate strongly against anti-competitive polices, play a key role in reducing barriers to encourage investments.”