While Bangladesh has had a Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice (Control and Prevention) Ordinance in its statute book from prior to independence, neither the Government nor private entities have ever sought to invoke its provisions.
However, there has been some activity of late. The Parliament of Bangladesh passed the Competition Act in June 2012 and in September 2013 announced the appointment of joint additional secretary Md Sujayet Ullah to the post of secretary of the newly created Bangladesh Competition Commission. Ullah will bear responsibility for establishing the Commission's office.
While the Commission is not yet in a position to aggressively enforce the competition law, its slow but steady path to a fully functioning organization, in the context of the widespread popularity of competition law among the general public, should prompt businesses with operations in Bangladesh to review their operations from a competition compliance perspective before the new Commission has the opportunity to do it for them.
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