Criteria for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Competition Authorities
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2007
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en
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Abstract
This report considers some of the recent initiatives undertaken by authorities in terms of criteria for the evaluation of competition law enforcement and competition advocacy. It is based on the responses to a questionnaire, sent by member States to UNCTAD. This report concurs with earlier studies on this topic suggesting that effectiveness should be viewed in terms of good outcomes and processes leading to those outcomes. For example, evaluating competition policy activities ex post is important for improving the efficiency of intervention, developing a competition culture and providing an impetus for updating and amending laws, guidelines and procedure. Evaluation activities might be purely internal, might be within Government but outside the authority or responsible ministry, or might be conducted by outside academic experts, consultants, international organizations or peers. The focus of these studies might be to examine various measures of the effectiveness of internal agency processes or the outcomes of agency interventions. Surveying changes in stakeholder perceptions can also be an indicator of the progress the authority is making towards the introduction of a competition culture. The evaluation of outcomes can be parsed into studies that examine the impact of sector studies and sector inquiries, reviews of advocacy initiatives and case selection, merger enforcement reviews (including a review of the effectiveness of remedies) and studies of the impacts of particular case interventions. The largest category of ex post evaluation has been in the area of merger enforcement. It is also important to consider the particular developing country priorities for impact evaluation.