Securing a competitive business environment in Guyana: The role of Fair Competition Legislation

Professor Leyland Lucas

The Competition & Consumer Affairs Commission (CCAC) apart from its mandate to enforce Guyana’s consumer protection legislation is also mandated to enforce rules of competition set out in the Competition & Fair Trading Act of 2011 or CFTA. The CFTA does two main things. First, it establishes the CCAC and confers on it the authority to administer and enforce the CFTA. Second, the CFTA describes a whole host of rules governing market players. Some of them are rules intended to protect consumers and some are rules intended to protect the competitive process or competition on a market (which necessarily means all market players and market forces).The rules of competition are those that, when enforced, protect the competitive process. These rules are intended to prevent and stop activities by enterprises that reduce or prevent competition or rivalry among themselves.

Benefits of fair competition

 With a more competitive market place, consumers as well as businesses prosper and Guyana can continue to ascend on the development path. As a matter of corporate social responsibility every business should play its part in becoming compliant with competition law. This is because the rules of competition when enforced and adhered to, promote: