MINISTRY OF WORKS, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION customers from exploitation, too rapid price changes and poor quality of equipment and services. Implications. As the liberalisation of the telecommunications market will not immediately ensure that free and fair competition is established there is a need to indicate what type of behaviour is not acceptable and a violation of the principles that uphold a liberalised market economy. In the absence of a Fair Trade Act and of measures to stimulate competition and protection of consumers, these principles need to be incorporated in the proposed new telecommunications legislation. In order to advance free and fair competition and the provision of telecommunications services on a competitive and non-discriminatory basis, practices such as e.g. collusion, forming of cartels, providing of false or misleading information and charging of unreasonable prices should be considered as offenses and be included in the proposed Telecommunications Act. The telecommunication sector could be in the forefront for development of consumer protection legislation and customers could exercise influence for instance through representation in the Regulatory Authority. It is proposed that a person representing the business community and another person representing domestic users should be appointed to the board of the Regulatory Authority. The Regulatory Authority should have the function of receiving complaints from users and the power to require service providers to submit comments on such complaints. 17 TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY FOR BOTSWANA