Tanzania: UNCTAD calls for regulated e-commerce issues

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) urged governments to put in place a regulatory framework to address e-commerce issues in order to promote fair competition in the private sector and protect the health of consumers. by collecting national revenues.

Ms. Elizabeth Gachuiri, UNCTAD's Economic Affairs Officer in the International Trade in Goods and Services and Consumer Products Division, told attendees that "the control of e-commerce promotes fair competition, allowing small and large businesses to To have the opportunity to negotiate while paying taxes and other taxes. "

The appeal was launched yesterday in Dar es Salaam during the training of the technical staff of the Fair Competition Commission (FCC), the Zanzibar Fair Competition Commission (ZFCC) as well as the Competition Tribunal the UNCTAD Focal Point for Capacity Building.

She added, "Once again, this gives the consumer the opportunity to make claims if the products sold do not meet the requirements." In most cases, local e-commerce resellers do not issue any contracts. neither give receipts, which means that the consumer has no claim rights as no supporting documents. "

Ms. Gachuiri also encouraged the presence of cooperation between commercial agencies at the regional level, which will be used inter alia to control the production of fake products and exchange information on the best ways to maintain commercial competition in the region. .

Dr. John Mduma, Executive Director of FCC, supported the motion, stating that anyone making a claim to the Board should have supporting documentation to support immediate punitive action against the producer or suppliers. who dare the health of the people and the national economy.

"For example, we normally tell people that when they buy and receive a receipt, they say," Once sold, the products can not be returned ", they must immediately report the problem because there is a problem with the products sold, which can affect the consumer in anyway, "he said.

Dr. Edwin Mhede, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said that monitoring of competition was an old and well-established practice aimed at stimulating innovation and to protect economies from the negative effects of monopolies.

However, he added, supervision of competition principles was still evolving in African jurisdictions over the past two decades. In the East African Community (EAC), there are only Tanzania and Kenya, which already have a competition law and a law. a competition authority (comprehensive legal and institutional framework for the enforcement of competition law).