THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Question 946
Mrs P de Lille (ID) to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry:
(1) Whether the Competition Commission have registers of all (a) trips
that employees or councillors have gone on that have been paid for or
sponsored by outside companies and (b) gifts that such persons have
received; if not, why not;
(2) Whether he will introduce such a register; if not, why not; if so,
(3) Whether the register will be accessible to the public; if not, why
not; if so, what are the relevant details?NW1107E
Response:
1. (a) Since April 2008 the following trips took place:
⢠Three staff members attended SADC meetings and the costs of their
travel and attendance was sponsored by SADC.
⢠One staff member made a presentation at a workshop on Competition Law
in Developing countries hosted by the Max Planck Institute in Munich
from 29 -31 January 2009. The travel costs were paid by the Max Planck
Institute of Intellectual Property and Competition Law.
⢠The Deputy Commissioner was requested to make a presentation to
analysts on competition matters on 28 August 2008. The airfare and
accommodation associated with this trip was sponsored by Mcquarie
Securities. This was declared in advance and was recorded.
(b) The Competition Commission maintains a gift register and all
employees are requested to declare any gifts received.
2. The Competition Commission has a gift register in place.
3. The register will be made available on request from the public and will
be dealt with in accordance with the Promotion of Access to Information
Act.