Businesses operating within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region have been urged to familiarise themselves with the newly launched COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations 2025.
COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) Chief Executive Officer Dr Willard Mwemba warned that failure to comply with the regulations would attract a hefty fine — 10% of a company’s total annual turnover across the 21 Member States operating under the COMESA bloc.
This follows continued engagements by the Commission on the new regulations under the common market during discussions held in Livingstone, Zambia.
Panel discussions during the engagements focused on:
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Enforcement and compliance best practices
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The role of competition policy in strengthening small economies
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Business perspectives and expectations on the regulations
Dr Mwemba emphasised the importance of compliance, noting that competition regulators were serious about enforcing the law due to the magnitude of the penalties involved.
He advised businesses to conduct their transactions responsibly — whether dealing with consumers or other businesses — warning that the cost of non-compliance far outweighs any short-term gains from misconduct.
“This is a powerful tool that has significant provisions that will help our businesses in the entire COMESA region of 21 countries, including Eswatini, to thrive better,” he said.
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Dr Mwemba said the new law would remove barriers to entry often erected by dominant market players to prevent competition.
“This new law will ensure that there are many businesses who can share and participate in this economy for the betterment of the entire local economy and the entire region’s economy.”
He highlighted that the regulations contain strong consumer protection provisions that were not present in the previous law and are not commonly found in national consumer legislation.
The common market, he explained, is treated as one unit, meaning consumer protections
Dr Mwemba noted that discussions also examined the implications of the new law for small and geographically isolated economies such as Eswatini.
While Eswatini does not share a border with any COMESA Member State, the new regulations are designed to ensure that geographical isolation does not restrict local businesses from accessing regional markets.
He warned against practices where businesses use geographical isolation as justification to appoint exclusive distribution agents, thereby constricting markets and limiting competition.
The new law, he said, strengthens safeguards against such behaviour.
Dr Mwemba further addressed concerns in the digital marketplace, noting the growing abuse of consumers online.
“Most of us cannot do away with digital commerce, digital interactions and digital engagement, but there is a lot of abuse happening on consumers there, including misrepresentations and dark patterns.”
He stressed that consumers — whether in Eswatini or Livingstone — are protected under the new framework and can use the law to address digital market abuses.
“In a nutshell, this law brings important provisions to develop our economies and to protect our consumers,” he added.
