The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the center for the United Nations for the issues such as competition policy and protection of consumers, is one of the international organizations which attaches great importance to Competition Policy. The UN General Assembly adopted the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (Set of Principles and Rules) in 1980 after the studies on restrictive trade practices and negotiations on multilateral practice rules related to restrictive trade barriers.

The Set of Principles and Rules is being reviewed each year by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy (IGE), and every five years by the UN Review Conferences. The last IGE meeting was held on July 5-7, 2017 in Geneva.

Our country hosted The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Review of All Aspects of the Set of Principles and Rules organized in Antalya on   November 14-18, 2005.

The highest decision making organ of UNCTAD is the conference organized every four years where members discuss current trade and development issues and determine UNCTAD directives and priority working fields. The said conference was held in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on July 17-22, 2016.

Assisting developing and transition countries in adopting and implementing competition rules is one of the main activities of UNCTAD. To this end, UNCTAD provides technical assistance to the said countries and tries to help those countries for increasing their capacities in adopting and implementing competition rules. One of the activities of UNCTAD within this context is the Model Law on Competition.