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SUMMARY:How should Competition Law in Africa treat Informal Firms? - Folak
 unmi Pinheiro
DTSTART:20260310T131000Z
DTEND:20260310T140000Z
UID:TALK244447@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Matthew Jones
DESCRIPTION:African competition law was largely designed to address antico
 mpetitive practices among formal\nfirms. Yet\, informality is one of the d
 efining features of African economies: informal firms employ\nover 70% of 
 Africa’s workforce and contribute significantly to the GDP of many count
 ries. These\nfirms are not insulated from anticompetitive practices\, whet
 her as victims or perpetrators. If\ncompetition law fails to account for t
 heir competitive effects\, its ability to regulate African markets\nand pr
 omote inclusive development remains severely limited.\nThis presentation w
 ill interrogate whether African competition law “sees” informal firms 
 by\nexamining exclusionary abuse of dominance interventions in South Afric
 a and Mauritius––two of\nthe most active competition regimes on the co
 ntinent\, with different institutional arrangements\nfor competition enfor
 cement. It identifies five mechanisms through which informal competition i
 s\nrendered invisible: market definitions exclude informal actors\; relian
 ce on econometric evidence\ndisadvantages firms lacking formal data\; prot
 ected firms are associated with incumbency and\nformality\; remedies focus
  on punishing past harm rather than fostering competitive environments\;\n
 and complainants are disproportionately formal firms\, reinforcing systemi
 c bias.\nBuilding on these findings\, the Effective Competitive Constraint
 s (ECC) standard is proposed. The\nECC standard\, protects firms based on 
 their ability to constrain dominant firms\, regardless of\ntheir formality
 . Accordingly\, the standard results in an epistemological shift\, one tha
 t favours\nsurveys and internal documents over econometric evidence. It al
 so prioritises remedies that seek\nto enhance the competitive process by s
 trengthening competitive constraints\, rather than merely\nsanctioning pas
 t conduct. By incorporating informal firms into competition enforcement\, 
 the ECC\nstandard offers a pathway toward inclusive market governance\, eq
 uitable economic development\,\nand a reimagined competition law that alig
 ns with Africa’s economic structure.
LOCATION:Richard King room\, Darwin College
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