Uganda is a member state of the COMESA and therefore subject to the COMESA competition law regime. In addition to COMESA, Uganda is a member of the EAC and is therefore subject to the EAC Competition Act.
To the best of local counsel’s understanding, Uganda has not been sanctioned by the Authority of the Common Market, and as such, the country has never been suspended from COMESA. Based on local counsel’s enquiries, it has been established that the country defaulted on its membership contributions payment obligations, in 2019. Further, the Government of Uganda took remedial action, and in fact, notified the Authority, about certain exceptional circumstances that had gravely affected the economy and, therefore, adversely affected their ability to make the payments. The Government has since cleared its membership contributions until 2021.
The EAC Competition Act is only applicable to economic activities and sectors having a cross-border effect. However, the EAC Competition Act contains no statutory definition of the word “cross-border”, but this is understood as having the ordinary meaning of cross-border, to be “an economic activity that spans the geographically defined borders of the EAC states” which are the Republic of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania. Therefore, activities in Uganda should be conducted with the COMESA and EAC competition laws in mind.
In addition to the above, Uganda has also ratified and signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, which has a competition law regime. Trading under the agreement was commenced in January 2021 but has been curtailed by the global COVID-19 pandemic. A team has been set up at the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, to handle implementation negotiations on certain aspects of the Agreement.
Therefore, activities in Uganda should be conducted with these regional bodies in mind.
None.
On 12 November 2021, the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (“UNDP”) held a three-day dialogue with key stakeholders to discuss opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area, and how Government, the private sector, development partners and other stakeholders could collaborate to position the country as a fast mover in harnessing opportunities presented by the agreement.
Yes. A notifiable merger would necessitate both domestic (currently sector-based notifications) and regional notifications to the extent applicable. Please refer to the chapter relating to COMESA for additional information in relation to its regional enforcement activity.
Due to the fact that there is no competition authority in Uganda, there have been no cases where a regional body, such as COMESA or EAC, have engaged Uganda to enforce competition law cases or merger reviews.