There is growing consensus among international trade negotiators and policymakers that a prime area for future multilateral discussion is competition policy. Competition policy includes antitrust policy (including merger regulation and control) but is often extended to include international trade measures and other policies that affect the structure, conduct, and performance of individual industries. This study includes country studies of competition policy in Western Europe, North America, and the Far East (with a focus on Japan) in the light of increasingly globalized activities of business firms. Areas where there are major differences in philosophy, policy, or practice are identified, with emphasis on those differences that could lead to economic costs and international friction. Alternatives for eliminating these costs and frictions are discussed, including unilateral policy changes, bilateral or multilateral harmonization of policies, and creation of new international regimes to supplement or replace national or regional regimes.

Global competition now shapes economies and societies in ways unimaginable only a few years ago, and competition (or 'antitrust') law is a key component of the legal framework for global competition. These laws are intended to protect competition from distortion and restraint, and on the national level they reflect the relationships between markets, their participants, and those affected by them. The current legal framework for the global economy is provided, however, by national laws and institutions. This means that those few governments that have sufficient 'power' to apply their laws to conduct outside their own territory provide the norms of global competition. This has long meant that the US (and, more recently, the EU) structure global competition, but China and other countries are increasingly using their economic and political leverage to apply their own competition laws to global markets. The result is increasing uncertainty, costs, and conflicts that burden global economic development. This book examines competition law on the global level and reveals its often complex and little-understood dynamics. It focuses on the interactions between national and international legal regimes that are central to these dynamics and a key to understanding them. Part I examines the evolution of the current global system, the factors that have shaped it, how it operates today, and recent efforts to alter that system-e.g., by including competition law in the WTO. Part II focuses on national competition law systems, revealing how national laws and experiences shape global competition law dynamics and how global factors, in turn, shape national laws and experiences. It examines the central roles of US and European law and experience, and it also pays close attention to countries such as China that are playing increasingly important roles in the global competition law arena. Part III analyzes current strategies for improving the legal framework for global competition and identifies the factors that may contribute to a system that more effectively supports global economic and political development. This analysis also suggests a pathway for moving toward that goal.

While forces of globalization have created a genuine global marketplace, global rules safeguarding the competitive process in this marketplace have not emerged. International cooperation among national regulators and enforcers is therefore needed to create a competitive global business-environment. The Future of International Competition Law Enforcement, using the variety of legal instruments available to the EU as a point of departure, undertakes an original assessment of the EU's cooperation agreements in the field of competition law The work’s focus is on the bilateral sphere, often labelled as a mere 'interim-solution' awaiting a global agreement; further attention is given to competition provisions in free trade agreements as well as the main multilateral initiatives in this field, in order to determine their relative value.

Competition policy—encompassing cartels, monopolies, mergers and state aid—is a hallmark of the European Union (EU). In recent decades, the EU’s competition policy has evolved under pressures from globalization. The EU in turn has been a key actor driving the globalization of the world economy through its increasingly active competition policy. This volume identifies and explores the major transformations that EU competition policy has undergone in the last decade in response to various pressures related to globalization, in particular, economic interdependence, the proliferation of national and regional competition regimes, and the financial and economic crisis. The individual chapters, written by specialists of EU competition policy from both sides of the Atlantic and from the perspectives of political science, management and public policy, investigate how the EU has responded to these challenges in each area of competition policy, and demonstrate that it has, on balance, been quite successful in responding to them, with some exceptions in the areas of state aid and mergers. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Integration.

This innovative book discusses the global character of competition law focusing on three interrelated perspectives; firstly, the impact of economics on competition policy; secondly, the competition law experience in selected countries (USA, EU, Japan, India, China, Brazil, transition countries) and how the law has adapted to the political, economic, geographic and cultural environment; and thirdly, the process of internationalisation and convergence of competition law.

This book examines the domestic and international dimensions of European Union (EU) competition policy, particularly mergers, anti-competitive practices and state aids. The authors argue that important changes in EU competition policy are having profound effects on the global political economy, and these changes are best understood as European Commission responses to new domestic and international pressures. Using a two-level game analytical framework that is both intra-EU and global in scope, Damro and Guay investigate a wide variety of domestic and foreign public and private actors that interact in crucial ways to determine the development and implementation of EU competition policy. They address this broad question: In what ways do changing external and internal factors affect the evolution of the EU's competition policy and the role that the Commission plays in it? Among the conclusions is that the EU – and particularly the European Commission – has become a leading global regulator.

Competition Law of the EU and UK is the essential introduction to competition law. Clear and accessible, without compromising on rigor, it helps students to navigate all of the technicalities of competition law. With strong coverage of the economics underpinning the law, this text leads students through the complexities of competition law and helps them to understand its principles. Designed to bring the law to life, a range of learning features aid comprehension and invite students to think about the many applications of competition law. Key cases boxes provide lively discussion, and user-friendly flow charts and visual aids offer a stimulating approach to competition law, making it an ideal introduction to the subject for undergraduates and postgraduates new to this area of law. An Online Resource Centre accompanies this book and provides: Summary maps and key cases - downloadable for ease of use Multiple choice questions - to help students to self-check progress and understanding Table of OFT decisions - for quick reference Web links - to enable students to take their learning further

Political scientists at the University of Manchester, with a little help from colleagues at other English institutions, explore how forces leading to the globalization of economic and political life are related to domestic and international political forces that might favor, impede, ameliorate, or even reverse the trend. They discuss governing the international trade regime during economic nationalism, national embeddedness and international production, international finance and the erosion of state policy, the globalization of health care policy, the restructuring of regional economics, and other topics. One of the 10 essays has been published previously. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Lisbon Agenda aims to prepare Europe for globalization by updating European policies for research, innovation, competition, trade, employment, education, social protection, environment and energy at both the European and national levels. Designed to inspire the new cycle of the Lisbon Agenda until 2010 and beyond, this timely and significant volume explores the intellectual elaboration of the agenda for the coming years. With contributions from some of Europe s leading scholars, this book explores new developments in the European agenda for globalization, addressing four critical areas: European policies, their adaptation to national diversity in Europe, their implications for the external action of the European Union and, finally, their implications for EU governance. This book presents the outcome of an organized dialogue between the political and research communities. Europe, Globalization and the Lisbon Agenda will undoubtedly prove an outstanding addition to the current literature and will be an invaluable resource for European policy-makers, governments and academics from a wide range of disciplines who are concerned about the future competitiveness of Europe.

Modern competition law was first employed by countries over one hundred years ago in order to address issues relating to restrictions of trade at the national level. Recent international economic integration has weakened the distinction between the domestic and the international in several fields of economic activity, and consequently the laws which regulate such activity, competition law included. Several attempts to address the paradox of adopting national competition rules to address international issues have been made at the international, regional and (lately) bilateral levels. This book discusses the international dimension of EU competition law, and examines the position taken by the EU in four distinct categories of international agreements which are devoted to competition or include competition provisions. In particular, it analyses the EU's position with regard to bilateral enforcement cooperation agreements, bilateral free trade agreements, plurilateral-regional agreements and the long negotiations for the adoption of a multilateral competition regime.