Vanuatu has for the first time participated at the Asia Pacific regional conference on Consumer Protection and Competition.
The Office of the Director General for Trade and Commerce participated in the event that was hosted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in Sydney’s Darling Harbour from 8-12 May 2023.
The Conference has full participation from ICPEN member countries including Pacific Island Countries in consumer & competition authorities and government representatives.
It is timely that the Vanuatu Parliament recently passed the amendment to the Price Monitoring and Consumer Affairs Act as an enforcement agency for pricing and consumer issues under MFEM.
The Council Of Minsters has also recently approved the MTC institutional reform to strengthen the commerce framework which will see transitional policy functions for consumer, price and competition be remit under one ministry for better coordination if the need to later establish a commerce commission to oversee all issues with consumer protection, unfair trade practices amongst business and competition policy issues.
Within the outset of the meeting, the Pacific island countries including Vanuatu had separate dialogue sessions with Australia and New Zealand with the assistance of ADB on how best to collaborate in strengthening their policies, institutional framework and sharing of information on consumer protection, competition and price monitoring mechanisms amongst FICs. PNG and Fiji are ICPEN members and are taking the lead in the region in establishing their enforcement of independent consumer and competition agencies and commissions.
One of the outcomes of the Conference for FICs including Vanuatu is a Concept Note that was prepared for all FICs to collaborate in sharing best practices and experience with all regulators of consumer, price and competition within FICs. The concept notes and MOUs will be implemented through additional support from the secretariat of the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji and ADB technical assistance and support.
During the margins of the meeting, the Office of Director General for trade and commerce also met with Pacific Trade Invest to discuss the coordination of the upcoming trade and investment mission to Australia as a new initiative to unfold the PACER plus.
The mission will entail a platform for dialogue from businesses in Australia and Vanuatu.
The PT&I will co-sponsor the event in October.
Photo supplied Caption: Vanuatu’s delegation at the conference with Honorary Consul General to Sydney Australia, Donald Pelam.