Competition policy officer

Description

Competition policy officers manage the development of regional and national competition policies and law, in order to regulate competition and competitive practices, to encourage open and transparent trade practices and to protect consumers and businesses.

Other titles

The following job titles also refer to competition policy officer:

competition policy manager
consumer protection officer
civil servant
entrepreneurship policy officer
policy manager for competition
policy manager

Minimum qualifications

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as competition policy officer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

  • the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
  • the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
  • the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Competition policy officer is a Skill level 4 occupation.

Competition policy officer career path

Similar occupations

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to competition policy officer.

trade development officer
employment programme coordinator
regional development policy officer
recreation policy officer
economic development coordinator

Long term prospects

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of competition policy officer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of competition policy officer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

Essential knowledge and skills

Essential knowledge

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of competition policy officer.

Government policy implementation: The procedures related to the application of government policies at all levels of public administration.
Consumer law: The area of law that regulates the relationship between consumer and businesses providing goods or services, including consumer protection and regulations on irregular business practices.
Business processes: Processes which an organisation applies to improve efficiency, set new objectives and reach goals in a profitable and timely manner.
Market analysis: The field of market analysis and research and its particular research methods.
Business strategy concepts: The terminology related to the design and implementation of major trends and aims which are taken by an organisation’s executives, while keeping in mind its resources, competition and environments.
Competition law: The legal regulations that maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive behaviour of companies and organisations.

Essential skills and competences

These skills are necessary for the role of competition policy officer.

Create solutions to problems: Solve problems which arise in planning, prioritising, organising, directing/facilitating action and evaluating performance. Use systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and synthesising information to evaluate current practice and generate new understandings about practice.
Develop competition policies: Develop policies and programmes which regulate practices of free trade and competition between businesses and ban practices which impede free trade, by controlling firms attempting to dominate a market, monitoring operations of cartels, and supervising mergers and acquisitions of large firms.
Promote free trade: Develop strategies for the promotion of free trade, open competition between businesses for the development of economic growth, in order to gain support for free trade and competition regulation policies.
Maintain relations with local representatives: Maintain good relations with representatives of the local scientific, economic and civil society.
Liaise with local authorities: Maintain the liaison and exchange of information with regional or local authorities.
Maintain relationships with government agencies: Establish and maintain cordial working relationships with peers in different governmental agencies.
Investigate competition restrictions: Investigate practices and methodologies used by businesses or organisations which restrict free trade and competition, and which facilitate market dominance by a single firm, in order to identify the causes and come up with solutions in order to ban these practices.
Advise on legislative acts: Advise officials in a legislature on the propositioning of new bills and the consideration of items of legislation.
Manage government policy implementation: Manage the operations of the implementation of new government policies or changes in existing policies on a national or regional level as well as the staff involved in the implementation procedure.

Optional knowledge and skills

Optional knowledge

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of competition policy officer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Project management principles: Different elements and phases of project management.
Corporate law: The legal rules that govern how corporate stakeholders (such as shareholders, employees, directors, consumers, etc) interact with one another, and the responsibilities corporations have to their stakeholders.
Scientific research methodology: The theoretical methodology used in scientific research involving doing background research, constructing an hypothesis, testing it, analysing data and concluding the results.

Optional skills and competences

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of competition policy officer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Carry out strategic research: Research long term possibilities for improvements and plan steps to achieve them.
Ensure information transparency: Ensure that required or requested information is provided clearly and completely, in a manner which does not explicitly withhold information, to the public or requesting parties.
Inspect government policy compliance: Inspect public and private organisations to ensure proper implementation and compliance with government policies which apply to the organisation.
Develop professional network: Reach out to and meet up with people in a professional context. Find common ground and use your contacts for mutual benefit. Keep track of the people in your personal professional network and stay up to date on their activities.
Advise on government policy compliance: Advise organisations on how they may improve their compliance to the applicable government policies they are required to adhere to, and the necessary steps which need to be taken in order to ensure complete compliance.
Perform project management: Manage and plan various resources, such as human resources, budget, deadline, results, and quality necessary for a specific project, and monitor the project’s progress in order to achieve a specific goal within a set time and budget.
Present reports: Display results, statistics and conclusions to an audience in a transparent and straightforward way.
Analyse goal progress: Analyse the steps which have been taken in order to reach the organisation’s goals in order to assess the progress which has been made, the feasibility of the goals, and to ensure the goals can be met according to deadlines.
Perform market research: Gather, assess and represent data about target market and customers in order to facilitate strategic development and feasibility studies. Identify market trends.

ISCO group and title

2422 – Policy administration professionals

 

 


 

 

References
  1. Competition policy officer – ESCO
Last updated on August 8, 2022