MBABANE – The new COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations, 2025, introduce significant changes to competition enforcement, merger control, consumer protection, digital markets, penalties and institutional processes.
Eswatini Competition Commission Chief Executive Officer Siboniselizulu Simelane said the new framework would bring new rights, responsibilities and compliance considerations for businesses, regulators, legal practitioners and consumer organisations operating within the Common Market.
Simelane was speaking yesterday during the National Stakeholder Sensitisation Workshop on the COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations, 2025, held at Emafini Country Lodge.
The COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) facilitated the workshop as officials from the regional body unpacked the key aspects of the regulations.
She said the Regulations represented a significant development in the competition and consumer protection framework within the COMESA market, particularly against the backdrop of increasingly regional markets and economic activity.
“For businesses, regulators, legal practitioners and consumer organisations, these changes bring new rights, responsibilities and compliance considerations,” Simelane said.
She said the changes also presented opportunities to strengthen cooperation, promote fair and competitive markets, enhance consumer welfare and contribute to sustainable economic development.
For the Eswatini Competition Commission, Simelane said understanding and effectively implementing the framework was particularly important given the increasingly regional nature of markets and economic activity.
She said the workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to move beyond simply understanding what had changed and consider what the changes meant in practice for their respective institutions and organisations.
Simelane stressed that the engagement was not intended to be a one-way information-sharing exercise.
“We want to encourage an open and constructive dialogue on the practical implications of the regulations, the challenges that may arise in implementation and the areas where further guidance, capacity building and institutional cooperation may be required,” she said.
She emphasised that effective competition enforcement and consumer protection could not be achieved by the commission alone.
Businesses, regulators, legal practitioners, consumer organisations and other stakeholders, she said, would need to collectively ensure that the new framework was understood, respected and effectively implemented.
“Our shared objective should be to ensure that the new framework is understood, respected and effectively implemented in a manner that promotes fair competition, innovation, consumer welfare and sustainable economic growth,” Simelane said.
Simelane said she hoped participants would leave the workshop with greater clarity on their respective rights, obligations and responsibilities under the new Regulations, while also strengthening relationships necessary to navigate the new regulatory landscape.
Leave a comment