The first international conference on competition and consumer protection is held in Georgia on November 16-17. The Conference is jointly organized by five market regulators: the Georgian National Competition Agency, the National Bank of Georgia, Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, National Communications Commission and Insurance State Supervision Service of Georgia. The event involves discussions on competition law, consumer rights protection mechanisms and the work accomplished by regulatory agencies.

 

Koba Gvenetadze, Governor of the National Bank of Georgia pinpointed the importance of free and fair competition in his welcome speech, highlighting the policy pursued by the National Bank of Georgia. "The years 2020-2021 were particularly important and intense for the National Bank of Georgia in terms of working on competition policy. The Organic Law of the NBG already established the NBG’s mandate to implement the competition policy. However, with the amendments made to the Competition Law in 2020, the NBG has enhanced powers. These important changes put us in a good position to do an in-depth work on policies and regulations. As a result, the NBG developed and published two documents in 2021. In the same year, shortly after the regulations were developed, the NBG reviewed several cases based on the new regulations. We enjoyed close cooperation with the Competition Agency in this process, which was especially important as the new regulations were first applied in practice. The NBG monitored market competition even more vigorously in 2022. We believe that by effectively enforcing the regulations, we will do a good job promoting free and fair competition in the financial market, and this in turn will enhance the effectiveness and transparency of the NBG’s competition work and decisions. In the end, these changes are aimed at greater efficiency of financial sector markets", Koba Gvenetadze said.

 

The two-day international Conference brings together the Government and Parliamentary teams, diplomatic corps, friend countries, representatives of business, non-government and academic sectors and field specialists. The delegations of 20 countries participate in the evet, including Teresa Moreira, the Head of the Competition and Consumer Policies Branch at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and other invited international experts.

 

The discussions at the Conference encompass the following issues: the features of competition policy and sustainable development, legal guarantees for protecting consumer rights and idiosyncrasies of the enforcement process. The parallel sessions are held on the following topics: indirect mechanisms of enforcement, competition policy on regulated markets/inter-agency cooperation. The participants are eager to share practical experience of Georgia and Europe in the field of consumer rights protection.