Single title
National Strategy Towards a Modern Competition Law For Jordan
Under the patronage of the Minister of Industry and Trade, Eng. Amer Al Hadidi, the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation in cooperation with Talal Abu-Ghazaleh College of Business at the German-Jordanian University, organized yesterday, at the Forum of Tala Abu Ghazaleh for Business, a workshop entitled “National Strategy towards a Modern Competition Law For Jordan".
During the workshop, a number of topics were reviewed, including competition laws, the theoretical approach, competitiveness, the concept of the social market economy, intellectual property rights, work environment, the Jordanian expertise in the laws of competition, the achievements of the Competition Act 2002, the challenges and the lessons learned. Lawyers from Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Lebanon participated in this event.
In his speech, HE the Minister of Industry and Trade, Amer Al Hadidi, noted that the Jordanian government planed and implemented a number of policies, legislations and programs aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of economic sectors and creating an economic environment, attractive to national and foreign investments.
He said that the law of competition, had been issued temporarily on August, 15, 2002 and has come into effect since that date, and thus Jordan became the first Arab country in the Middle East, which passed a national law for competition.
He added that the competition law of Jordan was in line with the substance of the international competition laws, pointing out that the ministry has carried out several actions to promote and protect competition in the Kingdom, including the launch of the Directorate of competition.
He also commended the vital role played by the Directorate in the protection of competition and regulations in the country, where the total cases dealt by the Directorate since its inception until the end of 2008 had reached 194, including the issue of complaints and consultations, research and economic studies.
Mustafa Nasereddin, Executive Director of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International Co. - Amman Office, in his speech on behalf of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, the Chairman of the Group said, "Lack of competition laws is a serious threat to the most vulnerable parties such as the local industries in Jordan. In the absence of such laws, these vulnerable parties do not have any chance to save their interests in the face of the most powerful parties in financial terms, such as international cartels, which usually tend to be very strong”. He stressed his confidence that the time has come to develop a modern competition law in Jordan, aimed to create an equitable work environment through the development of balanced and fair rules for individuals, universities and companies to assist them in exercising intellectual property rights, and stressed the importance for these provisions to take into account the interests of both the competitors and the public alike.
For his part, Mr. Michael Däumer, the Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation/Amman Office said, “despite the fact that Jordan has not been much affected, the world is witnessing a global financial crisis”. He added, “we are in urgent need of the social market economy where competition is a part of it. Therefore, it is required a need to share and exchange experiences in the implementation of competition legislations with the assistance of all parties concerned”.
Translation: Afaf Maraqa, KAS Amman