Video of the Webinar on ‘Merger Regulation in COMESA Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Way Forward’

On 30th July 2020, the Commission organised a webinar to discuss the challenges posed by COVID-19 on merger control and the way forward. The webinar aimed at providing an update on the experiences of the Commission and selected national competition authorities in the Common Market, as well as legal practitioners in handling merger notifications during the COVID-19 pandemic and a discussion ensued on whether the tools available to the authorities were sufficiently flexible to deal with such exceptional market circumstances, and what changes could be made.

Notice of Interim Measures in Merger Review of the Comesa Competition Commission Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

CCC-Notice-4-of -2020

The COMESA Competition Commission (the Commission) is aware that these are unprecedented, uncertain and challenging times for undertakings and other stakeholders. In view of this, the Commission wishes to notify the general public and all interested parties that as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic it has issued the following interim processes for merger reviews under the COMESA Competition Regulations (the Regulations) and the COMESA Competition Rules (the “Rules”).

1. Receipt of Merger Notifications

Parties to a Merger are encouraged to submit all notifications and filing of mergers and acquisitions electronically including certified copies of filings. This therefore means that the parties shall not be expected to submit the hard copies within the specified 7 days under the COMESA Merger Assessment Guidelines. The hard copies may still be submitted by the parties at a later date when it is possible under the circumstances.

2. Notification of a Merger following a Decision to Merge by the Parties

Pursuant to Article 24 (1) of the Regulations, parties to a merger should notify the Commission within 30 days of the decision to merge. The Commission takes cognizant that due to restrictions of movements and lockdowns in most countries as a result of the CoVID-19 Pandemic, some parties may not be able to gather all the information to enable them complete the notification within the 30 days period provided under Article 24(1) of the Regulations. The Commission is cognizant that section 5 of the Guidelines provides for the notification process and gives guidance to what amounts to a complete notification. During this temporal period, the Commission shall consider the initial engagement with the parties as the beginning of the notification process which shall be considered complete once all the information is submitted. It follows therefore that as long as the parties have engaged the Commission on the notification process, they shall not be penalized for failure to submit complete information within 30 days of the parties’ decision to merge.

3. Consultations and Meetings

The Commission has suspended onsite investigations and face-to-face meetings with regard to merger investigations. However, consultations and meetings shall continue to be held through teleconferencing facilities until the situation normalises.

4. Investigation Period of 120 Days

The Commission observes that under the current situation, it may not be able to complete its assessment of mergers and acquisitions that has been notified and yet to be notified in accordance with the 120 days stipulated under Article 25 (1) of the Regulations. This is due to travel bans and lockdowns in most Member States. These conditions shall affect the Commission’s engagements with various relevant stakeholders who are essential in the consultative process adopted by the Commission pursuant to Article 26 of the Regulations. Therefore, the merging parties should take note that the 120 days investigation period may be extended in some cases pursuant to Article 25 (2) of the Regulations as it may not be practicable to complete the assessment within 120 days under the circumstances.

If you wish to seek further details and/or clarifications on any aspect of this Notice, you may get in touch with Mr. Willard Mwemba, Manager, Mergers and Acquisitions, on +265 (0) 1 772 466 or via email at compcom@comesa.int and/or wmwemba@comesa.int.

Further, note that the Commission may update and revise this notice from time to time.

George K Lipimile

Director & Chief Executive Officer

Click here to download the Notice

Notice on Change of Bank Account Number

CCC Notice Number 3 of 2020

The COMESA Competition Commission (the “Commission”) wishes to inform the general public and stakeholders, who are required to make fee payments to the Commission that its Ecobank Malawi account number has changed. Hence, the Bank account details of the Commission have been revised as follows:

The Director and Chief Executive Officer

The COMESA Competition Commission

Kang’ombe House, 5^th Floor West Wing

P.O. Box 30742

Lilongwe 3, Malawi

Email: compcom@comesacompetition.org

              ldziko@comesacompetition.org

Product Recall of Certain Pilchard Products (Tinned Fish) in South Africa

CCC-CP-NOTICE-1-of-2020

WARNING NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

The COMESA Competition Commission (the “Commission”) hereby notifies the general public that the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) in South Africa has ordered for a national recall of 400g Pilchards in Tomato Sauce and 400g Pilchards in Chilli Sauce (Tinned Fish) with immediate effect. This is following the outcome of an investigation by NRCS which revealed a deficiency in the canning process. It was found that some of the cans were compromised during the sauce filling step on the production line and therefore could affect the safety of consumers. The recalled products were manufactured in 2019 by West Point Processors based in Cape Town and include the following brands:

• Deep Catch
• Mammas
• OK Housebrand
• Prime Ocean
• Spar
• Sunny
• Shoprite Ritebrand
• Cape Point
• Checkers Housebrand
• U Brand
• Saldanha
• West Point

The above products bear the markings starting with ZST29 and ZSC29 on top of the can.

In view of the foregoing and pursuant to Article 30 (1) (b) of the COMESA Competition Regulations (the “Regulations”), the Commission would therefore like to inform the general public to exercise caution and avoid consumption of the affected pilchard products.

The Commission welcomes any representations on the matter from all interested stakeholders and the general public. Should you require more information or clarification on the matter you may contact the Commission on +265 1 772 466 or email: compcom@comesa.int.

George K Lipimile

Director & Chief Executive Officer

Click here to download the Notice.

Notice of Closure of the Office of the Registrar on Official Holidays in the Year 2020

CCC Notice No. 2 of 2020

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT the COMESA Competition Commission (“Commission”) shall observe the official holidays recognized by the host country, the Government of Malawi. Consequently, the Commission would like to notify all its esteemed customers that the Office of the Registrar would be closed in the Year 2020 on the following dates:-

The Commission would like to remind the concerned persons that the closure of the Office of the Registrar would alter the computation of time by the Commission in accordance with Rule 3 (2) of the COMESA Competition Rules which read as follows:

“Where the time prescribed by or allowed under these Rules for doing an act or taking a proceeding expires on a Saturday or Sunday or on a day on which the office of the Registrar is closed, the act may be done or the proceeding may be taken on the first day following that is not a Saturday, Sunday or day on which that office is closed.”