Overlapping Jurisdictions, explained
A merger touching several African countries can trigger national filings, two regional regimes that each claim to be the only one-stop shop (COMESA and the EAC), and a continental AfCFTA layer that is not yet in force. This explainer maps the three layers, what the overlap costs a deal, and the brief's three proposals for making them work together.
In this explainer
- 1
COMESA's 2025 Regulations, in force from 5 December 2025, made its regime fully suspensory, with fines of up to 10% of COMESA turnover; the EACCA began receiving merger filings on 1 November 2025.
- 2
Most EAC Partner States are also COMESA members, and both authorities claim to be the only forum for these deals; neither law gives one priority or a way to refer cases between them.
- 3
Their 10 June 2025 MOU covers information sharing and cooperation but says nothing about deals that must be notified to both.
- 4
The AfCFTA Competition Protocol was adopted in February 2023 but is not in force, nor are its implementing regulations, which must still decide whether a continental authority reviews deals first or on appeal.
- 5
The brief proposes a binding CCCC–EACCA allocation protocol, common minimum thresholds through the AfCFTA, and a pan-African filing portal, which works fully only once the first two bind.
Sources
- Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, 'Key merger control changes in COMESA's 2025 competition regulatory overhaul' (21 January 2026)
- ENSafrica, 'COMESA merger control: what has changed' (8 December 2025)
- LexAfrica, 'EACCA merger notification regime' (31 October 2025)
- Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, 'ECOWAS: another regional competition regulator becomes fully operational' (10 February 2025)
- tralac, 'Status of AfCFTA ratification' (20 January 2026)
- Full reference list: 40 sources in the brief