Shaping Competition Culture in Developing Countries
Aiming to promote effective competition regimes in developing countries by facilitating experience-sharing amongst them, several multi-country collaborative research projects have been implemented.
These projects received wide acclamation and excellent feedback from all over the world and have been quoted widely, including in WTO, World Bank, OECD, UNCTAD and Asian Development Bank publications.
A slew of similar projects are on anvil in India as well, the Centre has been doing pioneering work in competition law & policy. A research project ‘Towards a Functional Competition Policy for India’ was implemented to identify and analyse competition issues to be addressed in identified sectors in the Indian economy.
Further, C-CIER has recently launched a new research initiative to publish ‘India Competition Regulation Report’ (ICRR) which is likely to be out in mid 2007. Another exclusive study ‘Options for using Competition Law/Policy Tools to deal with Anti-Competitive Practices in Indian Pharmaceutical Sector and Health Delivery System’ was also carried out for the Government of India.
Competition Regimes in the World – A Civil Society Report
C-CIER has recently published a research report that maps out competition regimes in nearly 121 countries around the world. The report also carries a brief description of the regulatory regime and the consumer protection framework of each country (www.competitionregimes.com)
CUTS Competition, Regulation & Development Research Forum (CDRF)
CDRF is a biennial research programme to encourage researchers, particularly from developing countries, to undertake research on the problems that developing countries face while implementing competition and regulatory regimes.
The project activities constitute writing of research papers and publication of a research volume and symposia.
Promoting Fair and Effective Regulation
C-CIER has been implementing two multi-country research projects with an intent to compare and analyse the regulatory frameworks in selected countries and suggest a robust regulatory framework to meet the requirements of developing countries.
The countries being covered in the projects are: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, UK, and Zambia.
Another research project was done for Government of India to suggest an effective strategy to implement Conditional Access System in Cable TV broadcasting in India.
Making Investment Work
Research in the area of investment includes implementation of a multi-country project titled as ‘Investment for Development’.
The project involved research on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in development and measures to enhance FDI flows.
The project analysed effectiveness of investment policies in select countries and created awareness on international investment issues.
C-CIER designed and hosted the International Working Group on Doha
Agenda (IWOGDA) Programme through which researchers/experts from around the world came on one platform to generate knowledge on various aspects and elements of potential investment, competition, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation agreements in the WTO.
Upholding Consumer Rights
On being invited by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Centre drafted a comprehensive law covering consumer protection, competition, and utility regulation and prescribed an institutional framework to implement the law.
In year 2001, a report ‘State of the Indian Consumer’ was also published that examined the plight of Indian consumers in the light of the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection.
This pioneering work was emulated in several developing countries including Pakistan. The Centre is also involved in drafting a National Consumer Policy for India.