Page 45 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE ROLE OF COMPETITION ADVOCACY IN TRANSITION AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

Building public awareness of competition policy

The competition agency faces a formidable task in building
awareness and support for competition policy among the citizens and the

business community, especially in transition and developing economies.
As a general proposition, the competition agency should conduct

its business in public as much as possible, though it faces significant lim-

itations in practice. Many of the agency's deliberations, as is true for all
government agencies, are conducted on a confidential basis. Moreover,

all competition laws contain strict confidentiality requirements relating
to information acquired in investigations or enforcement proceedings. To

the extent possible, however, the agency should make information about

its activities publicly available.
The agency should regularly publish its enforcement decisions in

bulletins sent to interested parties (state administrations, local
authorities, business organizations) that are influenced by competition

enforcement. In addition, summaries of decisions, and comments by case
handlers, should be publicized in the media. Press conferences are an

efficient way of developing contacts with journalists.

A useful but technically difficult educational tool for competition
agencies is the promulgation of guidelines on specific substantive

competition policy areas. Many competition agencies have published
merger guidelines or guidelines on restrictive agreements. Most com-

petition laws are written in sparse, general terms, and such enforcement
guidelines can help businesses conform to the law. The agency must

draw up such guidelines carefully, however. Although the experience of

other countries can be relevant (the U.S. Horizontal Merger Guidelines
are often consulted in other countries, for example), each country's

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