Competition Law Training for the Judiciary in Trinidad and Tobago

The Trinidad and Tobago Fair Trading Commission (TTFTC) hosted a Workshop on ‘the Fundamentals of Competition Law and the use of economic tools in competition law enforcement’ on Thursday 25 February, 2015 at the Ministry’s Head Office in Port-of-Spain. The Workshop, which involved Agencies such as the Telecommunication Authority of Trinidad and Tobago; the Regulated Industries Commission; the Securities Exchange Commission; the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, focused on the importance of competition law and policy during a period of economic downturn and the challenges in developing a competition culture in a new environment.
The training was conducted as it relates to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Article 177 and the Fair Trading Act of Trinidad and Tobago #13/2006, which require Judges and Judicial Officers to be fully training in Competition Law and the Economics of Competition.
In welcoming the participants to the Workshop, Justice Amrika Tiwary-Reddy, Chairperson of the TTFTC stated that ‘the Workshop comes at a particularly crucial time given the importance of competition law and policy to economic development.
Professor Frederic Jenny, former Supreme Court Judge of France and renowned expert in the area of competition law and policy facilitated the very insightful session. He noted that ‘the adoption and enforcement of competition law has been increasing over the past 10 years and this is so since it is an absolutely necessary instrument in a market economy’.
Professor Jenny’s presentation focused on areas such as the benefits of competition law for economic development and poverty alleviation; pillars of competition law: prohibition of anti-competitive agreements and merger control regulations; constraints to competition in markets and pre-requisites for effective competition enforcement; economic concepts useful in law enforcement; use of economics in determining use of a dominant market position and in merger analysis; and economic tools such as econometrics to measure the effect of allegedly anti-competitive practices.
Also addressing the participants was Dr. Taimoon Stewart, Consultant in International Trade and Competition Law and Policy who provided an update of the CARICOM countries that have adopted and are enforcing competition law, including Trinidad and Tobago who has partially proclaimed the Fair Trading Act, the legislation which creates an institutional framework for the enforcement of competition policy in Trinidad and Tobago.
The workshop was part of the EU funded project Capacity Building Within the Caribbean Forum of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (CARIFORUM) in the Areas of Competition, Public Procurement, and Customs and Trade Facilitation in support of the Implementation of the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) being implemented by Equinoccio Consortium.