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Competition

Competition Assessment Toolkit

 

‌Increased competition can improve a country’s economic performance, open business opportunities to its citizens and reduce the cost of goods and services throughout the economy. But numerous laws and regulations restrict competition in the marketplace. Many go further than necessary to achieve their policy objectives.

The OECD's Competition Assessment Toolkit helps governments to eliminate barriers to competition by providing a method for identifying unnecessary restraints on market activities and developing alternative, less restrictive measures that still achieve government policy objectives.

COUNTRY CASE STUDIES

Greece, IcelandMexico, Portugal, Tunisia, Iceland and ten ASEAN countries have already used the toolkit to assess competition-distorting rules in targeted sectors of their economies. Further reviews are currently being undertaken in Brazil as well as in ten ASEAN member states

The OECD also supports countries that do the analysis on their own, such as Botswana and Colombia.

Read more about their experiences: 
ASEAN  •  Brazil  •  Greece •  Iceland  •  Mexico  •  Romania  •  Portugal  •  Tunisia

 

 

 Text of the Toolkit 

Volume 1 sets down the toolkit principles, describing benefits of competition, the checklist and examples of government processes.

competition assessment toolkit volume 1‌ 

Vol. 1 Principles

Volume 2  provides detailed technical guidance on key issues to consider when performing a competition assessment.

 Competition Assessment Toolkit Volume 2 cover

Vol. 2 Guidance

Volume 3  is an operational manual that provides a step-by-step process for performing competition assessment.

Competition Assessment Volume 3 cover 

Vol. 3 Operational Manual

OTHER LANGUAGES

French l Français

Vol. 1 Principles    Vol. 2 Guidance    Vol. 3 Operational Manual 

Arabic | العربية

Vol. 1 Principles    Vol. 2 Guidance    Vol. 3 Operational Manual

Using the toolkit

The Toolkit provides a general methodology for identifying unnecessary regulatory restraints and developing alternative, less restrictive policies that still achieve government objectives.

One of the main elements of the Toolkit is a Competition Checklist that asks a series of simple questions to screen for laws and regulations that have the potential to unnecessarily restrain competition. This screen focuses limited government resources on the areas where competition assessment is most needed.

The materials can be used by governments in three main ways:

  • By government bodies engaged in the development and review of policies, such as the competition authority in its evaluation of competitive impacts of regulations or by ministries that develop laws.
     
  • In an overall evaluation of existing laws and regulations (in the economy as a whole or in specific sectors).
     
  • In the evaluation of draft new laws and regulations (for example, through regulatory impact assessment programs at the centre of government).

The Toolkit is designed for use in a decentralised fashion across government at both national and sub-national levels. The reason for designing the materials with this flexibility is that restrictions on competition can be implemented at many different levels of government and competition assessment can be helpful at all these levels.

The Toolkit materials are designed for use by officials with no specialised economics or competition policy training. Institutionally, potential users could include ministries, legislatures, offices of government leaders, state governments and outside evaluators of policy. The materials were developed with the active participation of many OECD delegations.

Comments on the Toolkit are welcome in order to prepare for future revisions. They can be sent to [email protected].

 

The 2019 Recommendation

On 22 October 2009, the OECD Council adopted a Recommendation that calls for governments to identify existing or proposed public policies that unduly restrict competition and to revise them by adopting more pro-competitive alternatives. Revised in 2019, the Recommendation fosters the establishment of institutional mechanisms for undertaking such reviews. The OECD's Competition Assessment Toolkit outlines one approach.

Access the recommendation

 

 

Chronology and former versions

The toolkit was first created in 2007 and has been revised four times since. See below the chronology as well as former translations

2007

The Competition Assessment Toolkit is first published in two volumes, Vol. 1 Principles and Vol. 2 Guidance.

2010

Both volumes are revised to include additional examples of the benefits of competition and an introduction to the Competition Checklist. This becomes Version 2.0.
2015 A third revision sees the addition of a third volume - the Operational Manual - to provide a step-by-step guide for performing competition assessment. Volumes 1 and 2 were also revised. The operational manual supplements Volumes 1 and 2 and the three volumes jointly constitute the Competition Assessment Toolkit (Version 3.0)
2019 All volumes in English are once again revised  in light of the changes brought about by digitalisation (Version 4.0, last version)

 

TRANSLATION OF PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF THE TOOLKIT

The 2010 and 2015 versions of the toolkit exist in many languages. These are currently being updated to reflect the latest amendments made in 2019.

Chinese | 中文 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Croatian | Hrvatski 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0)

Greek | Ελληνικά 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0)

Hebrew | עברית

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Hungarian | Magyar

Vol.1 Principles  (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Indonesian | Bahasa Indonesia  Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Italian | Italiano 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Japanese | 日本語 Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0)

Korean | 한국어 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Portuguese | Português 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 3.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 3.0)   Vol. 3 Operational Manual (version 3.0) 

Romanian | Român  Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0)

Russian | Pусско 

Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 

Spanish | Español  Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0) 
Turkish | Türkçe Vol. 1 Principles (version 2.0)    Vol. 2 Guidance (version 2.0)    Vol. 3 Operational Manual (version 3.0)

 

See also

Achieving more pro-competitive regulation in ASEAN

Experiences with Competition Assessment 2014: Report on the Implementation of the 2009 OECD Recommendation

OECD Recommendation on Competition Assessment

Competition Assessment Toolkit (Brochure)

Documents related to Competition Assessment

Competition Home Page


Permanent URL: www.oecd.org/competition/toolkit

 

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