Economy and Finance Minister Nadia Fettah on Friday said that Draft Law 41.22, amending and supplementing Law 20.13 on the Competition Council, aims to strengthen the Council’s neutrality as a constitutional institution and improve the procedures for referral to the Council.
Fettah, who presented this bill before the members of the Committee on Finance and Economic Development in the House of Representatives, stressed that it aims to establish an integrated national ecosystem of competition, in accordance with the New Development Model (NMD).
The bill also aims to set the missions and prerogatives of the members of the Council and improve the procedures and management, she said, noting that it also provides for the clarification of the powers of the President of the Council and its various decision-making bodies, to avoid overlapping jurisdiction, empowering the rules of procedure of the Council to distribute the prerogatives between the bodies mentioned above.
In addition, the law allows members at the end of their term of office to continue to exercise their functions until the appointment of new members, to avoid any disruption of the work of the Council, and also gives him the opportunity to disseminate guidelines on various issues, added the Minister.
Regarding the improvement of procedures and management, Fettah said that this text will allow the Competition Council to monitor conflicts of interest on cases before it, concerning the members and the general rapporteur, and establish a procedure for challenge for members and rapporteurs.
The bill also sets out the quorum requirements for the Council’s various structures, emphasizing the commitment to confidentiality in the deliberations of decision-making bodies in which only the members concerned may participate.
