f) Meraers and Acquisitions In order to safeguard competition inthe market place, Government will, if and when necessary, review mergers and acquisitions, including joint ventures and other forms of business alliances. g) Professional Services In order to ensure that laws such as those which regulate professional associations and any other laws that have a direct or indirect bearing on competition do not inhibit the effective working of competitive markets, Government will include all. professional associations, whether enacted by law or not, within the ambit of both this Policy and its related legislation. . h) Consumer Protection i) Through this Policy and its related legislation, consumers will be protected from any deceptive and frauqulent behaviour of sellers. In this regard, the formulation of a Competition Law will take into account the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act [CAP 42:07] that deal with unfair business praCtices. In addition, administration of the Consumer Protection Act will be p laced under the Competition Authority. The thrust of Consumer Protection under this Policy will include: aa) Maintaining an institutional emphasis on consumer welfare objectives; bb) Reducing the opportunity for business to deny consumers the benefits of competitive markets in the short-term by engaging in unfair business practices; cc) Promoting dialogue betweel) consumers and their stakeholders; dd) Providing market-driven inducements to domestically traded goods and services to meet basic standards of fair trading; and ee) Cooperating and networking regional and international competition authorities and sector specific regulators to 10 ------ _ ..._--- - - --- ---------