A total of 300 officials from the Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) underwent a two-day training on the prakas on the “Formalities and Procedures for Inspection and Investigation” and the prakas on the “Conditions and Procedures for Settlement by Negotiation” under the Law on Competition.

The sessions took place at the CCF headquarters on January 11-12, in cooperation with German international development agency GIZ. Members of the independent Cambodia Competition Commission (CCC) and from all of CCF’s provincial branches also received the training.

The CCF also held a round-table discussion that was attended by experienced speakers. During the discussion, the speakers shared the experiences of law enforcement related to the competition law and the Law on the Management of Quality and Safety of Products and Services.

Director-General of the CCF Phan Oun told The Post on January 12 that the training course was run to educate officials on the inspection and investigation procedures as well as the conditions for negotiating penalties.

He added that the session was to train the law enforcement officials to ensure that the law is implemented effectively and efficiently.

“We ran this training session to strengthen and develop the capacity and the knowledge of the CCF officials. CCF also runs another training session for all law enforcement officials because this is mechanisms to strengthen the capacity of the CCF in terms of all aspects and documents under all laws,” he added.

Oun said the CCF employed 630 staff members and 283 of them have the rank of judicial police officials who have the right to implement investigative procedures and take action against offences in connection with the Law on Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression in Cambodia.

In a social media post, GIZ said that the training sessions also incorporated an experience-sharing session set as a roundtable discussion among CCF Officials at the management level and CCF Officials on the practical implementation of Procedures of Law Enforcement and Investigation and Procedures for Determining the Offense.

“This training on regulations under the Law on Competition has enabled CCF Officials to effectively implement the law and disseminate it to the public and relevant stakeholders. The training was part of the country-level support by the ASEAN-German cooperation project,” it said.

The CCF issued a January 8 guidance to the CCF branches in the capital and provinces, especially the provinces at the borders to strengthen the activity of inspecting the transport of fresh meats, especially undocumented pig meats and ensure compliance with technical regulations of the conditions and the needs of pack and transporting fresh meats.

“If we found this non-compliance, we need to cooperate with the officials from the General Department of Animal Health and Products at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries or the officials from the General Department of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Economy and Finance to observe further procedures,” according to the guidelines.