What is the Competition and Tariff Commission?

R Whish & D Bailey, Competition Law (7 ed) (Oxford University Press, 2012) 1 – 2 state that:

‘A central concern of competition policy is that a firm or firms with market power are able, in various ways, to harm consumer welfare, for example by reducing output, raising prices, degrading the quality of products on the market, suppressing innovation and depriving consumers of choice.’

The Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) is a statutory body which was established in terms of section 4 of the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28]. Its functions are set out in section 5 of the Competition Act [Chapter 14:28] and are as follows:

1. (a) to encourage and promote competition in all sectors of the economy;
2. (b) to reduce barriers to entry into any sector of the economy;
3. (c) to investigate, discourage and prevent restrictive practices;
4. (d) to study trends towards increased economic concentration, with a view to the investigation of monopoly situations and the prevention of such situations, where they are contrary to the public interest
5. (e) to advise the Minister in regard to a number of issues that are listed in the Act.