Conference programme

Competition law in Africa: goals, institutional development and the road ahead. Drawing on the 2026 OECD Peer Review of Kenya’s competition framework, this keynote will focus on the evolving objectives of African competition law and confronts a central policy question for the continent’s agencies: where should scarce enforcement resources be allocated − pursuing conduct with limited local effects or prioritising market inquiries, merger control and advocacy?

Cartels are inherently secretive, making them difficult for competition authorities to detect, investigate and successfully prosecute. These challenges are compounded by an increasingly global economy and the digitalisation of markets.

Beyond detection, successful prosecution of international cartels raises further difficulties including complex legal and economic arguments about whether the cartel’s conduct produces direct and substantial local effects.

This panel will consider whether pursuing prosecution of complex international cartels is a meaningful use of authorities’ resources, or whether such resources are directed toward local investigations and advocacy initiatives.

A fireside chat on preparing and presenting a complex competition case including the challenges, obstacles and solutions involved. The discussion will also explore emerging trends in abuse of dominance, including the shift in focus from market share to market power during periods of crisis and what this means for future cases.

With the emergence of regional competition authorities across the continent, there has been a growing focus on vertical agreements and their effect on trade for the states party to them. While territorial restrictions are widely recognised as being a means of incentivising investment, regional competition laws have conflicting interests in promoting free trade. This panel will explore how these tensions have played out in practice and whether companies should be required to restructure established arrangements in light of regional competition laws.
This panel will also consider when exclusive arrangements may give rise to anticompetitive effects, drawing lessons from Kenya’s abuse of buyer power provisions (and its contemplated superior bargaining position provisions), as well as the recent Woolworths/Beyers abuse of dominance case in South Africa.

This fireside chat will explore the experience of senior and highly experienced judges from across the continent.

Cross-border practitioners in Africa face a patchwork of overlapping regional merger regimes — the East African Community (EAC), The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) — each with distinct filing fees, assessment standards and jurisdictional thresholds. This session takes stock of how these regimes have matured since their launches and how they interact with one another and with national authorities. Subjects include the treatment of territorial overlaps, COMESA’s continued reliance on its existing merger guidelines under the new regulations, ECOWAS’ resistance to public interest considerations, filing fee structures, and the practical implications for multi-jurisdictional deal clearance. This is a regulator-heavy panel (EAC, COMESA, ECOWAS and CEMAC representatives) moderated by a practitioner.

Digital markets remain a key priority for competition authorities globally, yet few discussions engage rigorously with where the theories of harm lie. This session puts US and European perspectives into a direct and interactive debate, together with counsel acting for the major platforms, to unpack the key pressure points in digital markets enforcement in Europe and the US, even where those debates sit divorced from the African context.

The panel will also discuss relevance, asking what do those theories of harm mean for what is being seen across Africa, and is there a distinct policy or legislative case for intervention in digital markets on the continent? While COMESA has introduced digital markets provisions in its new regulations and Kenya is amending its law to do the same, most African authorities still regulate digital markets under existing legislation of general application.

This session debates whether existing tools are sufficient or whether bespoke provisions are needed, why Kenya and COMESA judged it necessary to expand their laws and whether Western approaches, which are built for developed markets and established players, should simply be transposed or rethought for the continent. The discussion extends to theories of harm relating to digital platforms, algorithmic collusion and artificial intelligence and its regulation, in the African context.

Grocery retail remains an enforcement priority across jurisdictions, with regulatory attention increasingly extending along the agri-food value chain, from seed and agri-chemical inputs to fertiliser and fresh produce. Drawing on recent market inquiries in South Africa, Kenya and beyond, alongside comparative international experience, this session examines key findings and enforcement trends across the sector and considers the implications of consolidation at the input level for competition throughout the value chain.

Special attention will be given to poultry, including Zambia’s scrutiny of poultry mergers and ongoing commentary suggesting that global competition authorities have failed Africa by approving a series of poultry mergers. The session shall also interrogate the prospect of a poultry market inquiry in South Africa and franchising, where South Africa’s franchise market inquiry and Kenya’s provisions regulating franchise arrangements offer contrasting regulatory approaches.

Competition enforcement across the continent increasingly engages considerations beyond traditional competition analysis. This session examines the intersection and potential tensions between competition law and public interest (including employment and worker protection in mergers, cartel enforcement and abuse of dominance cases), trade law and tariffs, intellectual property (including licensing and exclusivity arrangements, evergreening and sham litigation), foreign investment controls and sustainability.

As regulators expand what they treat as public interest and apply public interest conditions to cross-border matters where policy objectives may diverge, the panel considers how these non-traditional considerations are manifesting across jurisdictions and how competition policy can support open and competitive markets while safeguarding local players.