Considering the important role of research and policy analysis in the development of appropriate policies and legislation responding to the challenges faced in the area of competition law and policy, and consumer protection, UNCTAD created the Research Partnership Platform (RPP) in 2010.
RPP is an initiative that aims at contributing to the development of best practices in the formulation and effective enforcement of competition and consumer protection laws and policies which will eventually promote sustainable and inclusive development.
RPP brings together researchers from universities, research institutions, competition authorities and civil society organizations. RPP is a platform for joint research, dissemination of research results and exchange of ideas amongst scholars and practitioners on issues and challenges faced particularly by developing countries and economies in transition in the area of competition and consumer protection policies. UNCTAD, through RPP, facilitates data collection through its wide network of competition and consumer protection agencies.
The role of UNCTAD is to facilitate and provide guidance on the research and analysis undertaken by researchers within RPP, including through assisting in data collection thanks to its worldwide network of competition and consume protection agencies. UNCTAD aims at benefiting from the research findings in its technical assistance and capacity building activities. The research undertaken within the RPP would result in joint publications (research papers, policy briefs and research-based analytic notes) on competition and consumer protection issues.
Since 2010, the members of the RPP, interested researchers and UNCTAD staff get together at the margins of the annual session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy, and exchange views on ongoing projects and discuss new research proposals.
Currently, UNCTAD Research Partnership Platform hosts over sixty-five institutions consisting of research institutes, universities, non-governmental organizations, corporate affiliates and competition agencies.
We have twelve active projects being carried out under the auspices of the RPP, and three completed projects on Competitive Neutrality, Competition Law and the State (Phase I) and Measuring the Economic Effects of Cartels in Developing Countries. During the seventh meeting of the RPP on the morning of 19 October 2016, we will discuss the progress achieved in the ongoing projects and hear new research project proposals.
