Case Studies

Competition agencies, whether they are independent commissions or departmental offices, are crucial for making sure competition laws are followed and effective. The Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative is providing tailored, ongoing training and leadership programs to strengthen these institutions in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Solomon Islands.

Protection of the rights of the consumers is as important in the Pacific as it is anywhere in the world. However, the Pacific developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) face particular challenges in protecting these rights because of factors such as the geographic dispersion of consumers and traders, high costs of transport and travel, and the increased risks of product deterioration. That is why the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) works to strengthen competition institutions through extended training programs that are specifically designed to consider and respond to the structure of existing institutions, different operating contexts, and the specific challenges and priorities of the region.

“The direct benefit of these programs is more capable and efficient consumer protection and competition institutions, which are not only able to better equip to carry out the day-to-day work of their organization, but which are also better able to identify the specific needs of their populations, and engage more meaningfully in policy and legislation design,” said PSDI’s Competition and Consumer Protection Expert Terry Reid. “For consumers, this means that their rights are better protected, fair business practices are upheld, and they are empowered to be more active and informed participants in the marketplace.”

Strengthening capacity and supporting new consumer protection legislation in Kiribati

In Kiribati, PSDI has been working with the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives (MTCIC) since 2018 to strengthen the capacity of the Consumer Protection Division (CPD), alongside the development of a new legal framework for enhancing consumer protection. The CPD is mandated to protect Kiribati consumers from unfair trade, and set standards for product performance and safety.

Typical cases dealt with by the CPD involve issues of product safety, expired goods, misleading advertisements, and unfair trading practices like scams. Such cases can have major impacts on the lives of Kiribati consumers, so their timely and effective resolution is a priority for the MTCIC. Because of this, PSDI has worked to develop a program tailored to the needs of Kiribati and the MTCIC.

To date, PSDI has delivered more than 50 in-person and virtual 1-hour and 2-hour long workshops, including 25 sessions in fiscal year (FY) 2023, that were designed to develop the MTCIC staff’s technical capacity and improve existing processes to deal with complaints and meet ministry obligations. Topics covered have ranged from advertising on social media, interviewing, and investigation, to misleading conduct and complaint handling.

Alongside this, PSDI has been working to develop a new consumer protection bill that will improve access of consumers to remedies and strengthen the CPD’s enforcement abilities. Recent trainings have worked to familiarize the CPD staff with the requirements of the pending legislation, ensure that they fully understand the requirements of the bill, and have the knowledge and skills to operationalize it as soon as it is ready. Kammari Betiota, director of the Business Regulatory Centre, MTCIC, expressed her appreciation of the training, particularly its direct relevance to the Kiribati business context, saying “The practical comprehensive training on investigation exercises was really helpful to our team and participants. It was well structured to our training needs and real cases, and [focused on the] experienced issues/challenges in Kiribati.”

Participants agreed that the training was highly relevant to their work. In feedback interviews, one participant observed that “the training topics are really relevant and suitable to our cases in our country,” while another commented on the direct technical relevance of the training, stating that “the topic interview is very helpful and useful for me [because] there are some questionnaires shared that must [be] used while doing investigations.”

Strengthening competition and consumer protection capacity in PNG

In Papua New Guinea, PSDI has been working with the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) to deliver a longstanding capacity-building program designed to support the ICCC to better investigate and enforce competition and consumer protection laws. This support is provided through an agreement between PSDI and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade made in 2015. The capacity-building program was developed specifically for the ICCC, in response to a 2018 evaluation that identified several potential areas for improvement, including internal management practices, strategy setting, regulatory functions, and public education.

The capacity-building program was then expanded in FY2022 to include a leadership training program for ICCC executive managers, which in FY2023 was broadened to all managers in response to the positive feedback from executive managers. PSDI has delivered more than 100 sessions with the ICCC since 2018. In FY2023, trainings covered management workshops for ICCC executive managers, leadership workshops for ICCC managers, and a wideranging case study workshop series that led participants through a full investigation, including interviews with complainant and trader, research, enforcement options, and report writing.

“We [at the ICCC] have noticed the considerable, lasting improvements in staff performance and confidence during the period we have been working with PSDI,” said Brian Ivosa, ICCC’s general manager. “The training has added value at all levels of our organization. Staff are better-equipped to carry out to-to-day activities, like investigations and interviews, and the improvements in management and leadership are making a real, positive difference to how the ICCC operates. We look forward to having more capacity-building opportunities with PSDI and ADB in 2024.”

Feedback from participants in the FY2023 program noted the relevance to their work and the effectiveness of the material in helping them develop practical new skills. One participant stated that “the workshop was very helpful. I have learned something new and practical that I can now use at work, especially on coaching and holding difficult conversations.”

Supporting Pacific exposure to global competition and consumer protection networks

Connected to PSDI’s competition capacity strengthening work, in FY2023 PSDI supported representatives from competition institutions in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu to attend international competition and consumer protection events. In FY2023, representatives attended the International Competition Network Cartels Conference in Auckland, New Zealand in December 2022, and the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network Presidency Event, held in Sydney, Australia in May 2023. Attending these events supports representatives from regional competition institutions to network with peers, engage in discussion around global trends and best practices, and learn practical knowledge that directly applies to their day-to-day work.

Expanding PSDI’s competition and consumer protection work in the Pacific

PSDI has now begun a similar capacity-building program with staff of the Consumer Protection and Price Control Division (CPPCD) of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration, Solomon Islands. This work, which kicked off in FY2023, has so far involved workshops with staff on topics that include misleading conduct, product safety, gathering evidence, and recording complaints.

Geoffrey Dan Houua, director of CPPCD, praised the relevance and practicality of the PSDI training so far. “It was a privilege to be taught by very experienced and knowledgeable trainers in these areas,” he said. “The trainings were really good, and equipped officers to handle actual cases that are there. It is now only up to officers to put into practice what they learned during these training sessions.”

Because of the positive reception and strong evidence of how these training programs contribute to more developed competition and consumer protection ecosystems, PSDI is now also working on requests from the Fiji Competition and Consumer Commission; the Samoa Competition and Consumer Commission; and the Government of Tonga, Ministry of Trade and Economic Development (Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Division) to deliver similarly tailored programs in their competition and consumer protection institutions.

This case study is taken from the PSDI FY2023 Annual Progress Report. Read the full report here.