Competition guidelines are key advocacy instruments for competition authorities and can be especially useful in younger competition regimes, where the competition culture is still emerging and where competition agencies are often young, inexperienced and are faced with limited resources. Guidelines are documents by which an administrative authority communicates general principles, methodologies and decision-making practices, – in this case with respect to application and interpretation of various provisions of its competition law – allowing for increased transparency, predictability and legal certainty for the private sector.
Competition guidelines commonly seek to explain the law; indicate how a competition authority interprets and applies the legislative provisions; refer to any relevant case law or prior decisions, which assist the competition authority with its interpretation; and provide case or hypothetical examples.
This report provides insights into the framework conditions and current practice in terms of competition guidelines in Tunisia and sets out recommendations to help the country strengthen its competition advocacy framework. The successive implementation of these recommendations can support Tunisia’s efforts to improve its enforcement framework and practice, aligning more closely with international best practices.
The document was produced within the framework of the “Fostering competition in Tunisia” project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) via the DispoFlex mechanism and supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The project builds on the OECD’s previous analysis and aims at reviewing Tunisia’s draft competition guidelines and supporting the Competition Council, the DGCEE and the Administrative Court through capacity building initiatives.
The views expressed in this document can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the BMZ and the GIZ.
This publication benefitted from the support, inputs, review, comments and fruitful co-operation of the Competition Council, the Ministry of Trade and the GIZ. Our thanks go to Urs Schrade and Walid Wahabi from the RECAP team at the GIZ for the good co‑operation, for providing support and contributing to the task of co‑ordinating the project. We are grateful to the Ministry of Trade and to the Competition Council for their co‑operation, commitment and support throughout the project. In particular, the authors are thankful to Houssem Eddine Touiti, Head of the competition and economic investigations department at the Ministry of Trade and his team, especially Nawal Khaldi and Mohamed Mnasser, Vice-President, Mohamed Cheikhrouhou, Rapporteur General and Habib Essid, Rapporteur at the Competition Council.
This report has been developed by a team led by Saïd Kechida composed of Marcelo Guimarães and Wouter Meester, all from the OECD Competition Division. Ori Schwartz, Head of the OECD Competition Division and António Gomes, Deputy-Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, provided valuable comments and inputs. The report was edited and prepared for publication by Erica Agostinho and Nasli Aouka, OECD Competition Division.