PEER REVIEW MECHANISMS IN LEGISLATION: THE CASE OF COMPETITION LAW IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Peer review is a mechanism that countries employ to assess the quality and effectiveness of their policies, legislation, and institutions. It provides a forum in which policies can be explained and discussed, on a non-confrontational and non-adversarial basis. Thanks to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) peer review is now being applied in the realm of law, particularly competition law.

This paper seeks to assess the result of peer review mechanisms in competition law in affecting the development interest of developing countries. The author contends that assessing the efficacy and impact of peer review upon competition law is essential to satisfy policy objectives and because the mechanisms of peer review are relatively new and are being applied in a very complicated area of law. Assessment of peer review is also useful when evaluating the potential utility of inviting peer review in other related areas of law.