WAEMU’s competition policy has been orientated towards an increasing centralization of competence within the Union by means of unified rules regarding agreements, abuse of dominant position and State aids. Accordingly, Member States have been deprived of all their competence in these fields. When legislating in the field of competition law, WAEMU Member States must respect the scope of the Union’s exclusive competence. Centralization is also to be seen with regard to procedures, which are an exclusive competence of the WAEMU Commission.A critical glance at WAEMU’s competition policy, both in material and procedural terms, reveals that even if this policy is justified, given both the relative infancy of the organization and the lack of a “competition culture” on the part of Member States, centralization nevertheless endangers the effectiveness of WAEMU competition law. Whereas a certain degree of harmonizing legislation may be justified in the framework of WAEMU, it remains doubtful whether an exclusive competence on the part of the WAEMU Commission would contribute to better achieving the goals of Community competition law.<abs>ƒAccordingly, the distribution of competences between the WAEMU Commission and the WAEMU Member States calls for a redefinition which should seek to increase the involvement of Member States as far as decision-making is concerned. In this respect, a proposal is put forward according to which WAEMU Member States would be accorded a number of competences which would coexist with the competences vested in the WAEMU Commission.<?tf>
World Competition