The Competition Commission of Mauritius and the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development are honoured to host the 8th Annual Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) week in person at The Ravenala Hotel, Balaclava, Mauritius. ACER provides a valuable platform for competition authorities and regulators to share knowledge, keep abreast of key developments across the region, and build networks for collaboration between agencies. ACER week combines targeted professional training programmes from 2 – 4 October 2023, and a conference on 5 and 6 October 2023.

ACER Week targeted professional training programmes (PTPs) are designed to capacitate professionals in the immediate and wider competition and regulation community - competition attorneys and economists, mergers & acquisitions specialists, consultants who focus on cross-border trade agreements and regulations, academics and policy makers engaged in teaching and advancing regulatory frameworks and development policy. We are pleased to introduce a brand new offering this year, targeted exclusively at decision makers and adjudicators in African competition tribunals and judiciaries, delivered by judges and (current and former) tribunal members.

PTP 1: Competition Economics for Practitioners in africa

Addressing core areas in competition economics, this PTP is targeted at competition practitioners. The PTP will cover topics in mergers, cartels and abuse of dominance cases, focusing on theoretical principles and their application in practice in cases. Uniquely this year, part of the PTP will be dedicated to lessons in undertaking impact assessments, a topical issue for competition authorities in Africa.

Course instructors: Mr. John Davies (Tribunal Member at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal), Dr Thando Vilakazi (Senior Lecturer at University of Johannesburg and Director at CCRED, part-time member of the Competition Tribunal in South Africa), Prof Simon Roberts (Professor at the University of Johannesburg and Lead Researcher at CCRED), and Prof Reena das Nair (Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg and Senior Researcher at CCRED).

PTP 2: Law in Competition Policy

This course covers core legal principles in competition law and policy and the application of those principles, including issues of legal due process and decision-making relevant to competition authorities. The focus is on practical aspects of competition enforcement such as initiating investigations, commissioning market inquiries, running hearings, negotiation/settlement, and using the law to gather evidence, in addition to the role of economic evidence in deciding on likely harm to competition.

Course instructors: Prof Jonathan Klaaren (Professor at the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand), Ms. Nelly Sakata (Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and Principal Legal Counsel at the Competition Commission of South Africa), Mr. Rory Macmillan (Partner at Macmillan Keck Attorneys and Solicitors), and Prof Marek Martyniszyn (Professor at Queen’s University Belfast and Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network).

PTP 3: Key Principles for Assessing Evidence in Competition Tribunals and Courts

Targeted at decision makers, this brand new one-day intensive PTP will cover three main issues: 1) key principles in competition matters and the differences between legal form-based and economic approaches to competition cases; 2) hearing economic evidence in competition matters and making decisions on it by tribunal members and judges; and, 3) lessons from experience on writing up decisions in competition cases.

Course instructors: Prof Frédéric Jenny (Chair of the OECD Competition Committee and former judge of the Supreme Court of France), Dr Thando Vilakazi (Senior Lecturer at University of Johannesburg and Director at CCRED, parttime member of the Competition Tribunal in South Africa), and Mr. John Davies (Tribunal Member at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal).

Some comments from previous ACER week participants:

“Excellent content, clear and understandable presentations, great interaction with participants from other jurisdictions and interesting and engaging exercises! Keep up the good work that you are doing”

“The course is an eye-opener as it lays out the competition policy and its practical application.”

“The lecturer was great and explained concepts well. The exercises were relevant.”

“Very relevant and informative course. Presenters were fluent and had knowledge of the subject matter.”

“I was impressed by the facilitators. Kudos.”

“The course was very informative and relevant to the targeted group…”

“The course was interesting since it had two components, theoretical and practical approach to competition analysis of cases; Engaging and practical”

“I think the approach of taking real life cases and discussing them is a great idea. In addition, having facilitators who are or have done the actual work before is a great idea.”

“Well-presented and mix course. Very insightful into many markets. Good mix of theory and practice.”

Registration closes on 15 September 2023.

General ACER queries can be directed to Cheryl-Lyn Selman at cheryl-lyns@uj.ac.za