By: Kelvin Chiringa
The Namibian Competition Commission has confirmed that the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (Pty) Ltd applied to be exempted from certain provisions of the Competition Act in order to import 50% of Namibia’s petroleum needs.
The commission has disclosed that Namcor seeks an exemption for a period of ten (10) years.
This application is in line with section 27(1) of the Competition Act, 2003 (Act No. 2 0f 2003) (“the Competition Act”).
NaCC said the exemption application relates to a category of proposed decisions to be issued in terms of the Petroleum Products and Energy Act, 1990 (No. 13 of 1990) (“the Energy Act”) and the Petroleum Products Regulations, 2000 (“the Regulations”).
Such are meant to amend the wholesale licenses of the present importers of petroleum products by imposing conditions on the percentage volumes for the procurement of petroleum products, and reinstating the mandate to import 50% of Namibia’s petroleum needs to Namcor.
The exemption application that is currently before the commission is aimed at enabling it to assess whether or not there are exceptional and compelling public policy justifications that would warrant the exemption of the reinstatement of the mandate from the provisions of the Competition Act.
In the meantime, the commission said it is currently seeking input from interested parties such as Namcor’s customers and competitors in respect of the competitive implications of the proposed reinstatement of the 50% petroleum importation mandate.
“The commission has furthermore in line with section 27(3) of the Competition Act in February 2019 published a notice in the Government Gazette inviting interested parties to submit to within 30 days submit to the Commission any queries or written representations that they may wish to make concerning the application,” it said.
Provided that there are exceptional and compelling public policy reasons for doing so, the commission will after consideration of the application and any representations submitted by interested persons make a determination on whether or not to grant or refuse the exemption application.
