In this article for African Antitrust, authors Tyla Lee Coertzen & Joshua Eveleigh (Primerio/African Antitrust) offer an overview of the COMESA Competition and Consumer Protection Regulations, 2025, adopted on 4 December 2025. These new rules, which took effect immediately, repeal and replace the 2004 Regulations and represent the most significant overhaul of the COMESA competition framework since its establishment more than two decades ago.
The authors highlight several major substantive reforms introduced by the 2025 Regulations, including the shift to a suspensory merger control regime, expanded enforcement powers, a formalized leniency program for hardcore cartel conduct, and strengthened oversight of digital markets. The reforms also expand COMESA’s consumer protection role, reflected in the rebranding of the authority as the COMESA Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC).
These changes follow an extensive consultation process that began in 2023 and involved multiple stakeholders, alongside the adoption of updated implementing rules and new practice guidance on merger control. The authors offer their insight on these significant developments here, as well as in upcoming COMESA updates.