West Africa’s newest competition authority has officially started taking on the regulation of mergers and cracking down on anti-competitive practices across 15 countries—including actions involving international firms.
The ERCA, the Economic Community of West African States’ Regional Competition Authority, will oversee deals in The Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and 10 other countries when it is fully operational.
“We have conducted market studies in the transportation, agriculture, pharmaceutical and recently in the digital market. We have noticed alleged practices in these sectors and we are planning to investigate some of the allegations,” Simeon Koffi, ERCA’s executive director, told Law.com International, adding that enforcement may also affect international firms operating in West Africa.
The ERCA has been receiving complaints since it was first established in 2019 but lacked the powers to take or enforce actions because there was no advisory council.
The regulator has now remedied that problem by inaugurating its council at Banjul on Wednesday, empowering ERCA to review mergers valued at $26 million and above which involve at least two member states. The authority will focus on key industries but funding and staffing constraints may limit its scope.
The ERCA is currently operating with 10 staff at its Gambia headquarters with plans to hire 17 more professionals in 2025 in addition to consultants. The agency’s limited resources come from its parent organisation, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a political and economic union of 15 countries with a combined population of about 425 million.
Koffi said his team won’t rely solely on complaints before commencing actions and plan to broaden their initiatives, “We are also considering cooperation agreements with other regional competition authorities on the continent to prevent overlapping.”
