Competition law and the African continental free trade area why a harmonised competition regime is essential to Africa's free trade agenda

Abstract

This thesis tackles competition law in light of the African continent and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Inspired by the AfCFTA, which aims to create a single market for goods and services across Africa, this thesis explores how Africa can utilise competition law to build a more competitive, robust and resilient market. It looks at the development of competition law from a national and regional perspective and proposes that Africa develop a harmonised competition regime under the AfCFTA regime. It explores how Africa can do so by examining the AfCFTA agreement and the AfCFTA draft Competition Protocol. It does a comparative analysis with the European Union, which has been able to achieve a harmonised competition regime founded on Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty for the Functioning of the European Union. It argues that if Africa aims to protect and develop AfCFTA, it must embrace competition law at the heart of it, to protect its market against anti-competitive conduct, abuse of dominant positions, and collusions or combinations that will undermine its goal of developing a truly competitive market. It finishes by giving its conclusions of the current competition regime under AfCFTA and offers recommendations on how AfCFTA ought to proceed moving forward.