Competing Jurisdictions

Recent years have witnessed a sharp increase in the number of international courts and tribunals (WTO, NAFTA, ITLOS, ICC, etc.) and greater willingness on the part of states and other international actors to subject themselves to the compulsory jurisdiction of international adjudicative mechanisms. However, because of the uncoordinated nature of these developments, overlaps between the jurisdictional ambits of the different judicial bodies might occur, i.e., the same dispute could fall under the jurisdiction of more than one forum. This raises both theoretical and practical issues of coordination between the various jurisdictions. The purpose of this book is to explore the implications of jurisdictional competition and to identify standards that may alleviate problems associated with the phenomenon, which arguably threatens the unity of international law. The first part of the book examines the jurisdictional ambits of the principal international courts and tribunals and delineates areas of overlap between their respective jurisdictions. There follows a discussion of some of the potential systematic and practical problems that arise out of jurisdictional competition (such as forum shopping and multiple proceedings) and a consideration of the expediency of mitigating them. The book concludes by identifying existing rules of international law, which govern inter-jurisdictional competition, and by considering the desirability of introducing additional norms and arrangements.

Includes bibliographical references.

'The most thoughtful collection available of insights into the challenges facing new competition jurisdictions. Whish and Townley have brought together experts on approaches global, comparative and local, combined with fresh inter-disciplinary insights. By combining law, economics and political economy, what emerges are pointed commentaries, and a rich source of principles and pragmatism. This book will guide the creators and enforcers of new competition law regimes.' – Philip Marsden, Director, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and OFT Board Member 'This is a wonderful volume filled with good ideas. It evolves from the Sixth Conference of ASCOLA, the world association of competition law professors, which asked a group of young scholars how new competition law systems can be made more effective, and challenged the conference participants to interrogate the ideas. the resulting book is an admirable collection of insightful papers and commentary. For all who are interested in advancing younger competition law systems and their supporting academic communities, this volume must be read.' – Eleanor Fox, New York University School of Law, US This book focuses on the problems faced by newly-established competition authorities, and on shaping policies and building institutions in those jurisdictions. In particular four key issues encountered by new competition jurisdictions are considered, namely: the challenges and obstacles to adopting competition laws; institutional challenges and choices, with a specific focus on deterrence; the global perspective, with a specific focus on mergers; and a discussion of how to help young academics in new jurisdictions. Theoretical analysis is informed by practice throughout, and in particular by those considered to be at the cutting edge, either working in new competition authorities or from specialists advising them on a daily basis (such as those in the OECD and UNCTAD). New Competition Jurisdictions will be of great interest to lawyers, economists, academics, judges and public officials working in the fields of competition law and policy.

Die Arbeit untersucht die Interaktion zwischen den Streitbeilegungsmechanismen, die im Rahmen des SRÜ und des WTO-Abkommens eingerichtet wurden. Sie erforscht zugleich die Herausforderungen, die Streitigkeiten für internationale Gerichte mit begrenzter Zuständigkeit darstellen. Aus Sicht des WTO-Vertrages und des SRÜ gibt die Arbeit konkrete Antworten auf folgende Fragen: Inwieweit können die genannten Entscheidungsgremien angesichts ihrer begrenzten Zuständigkeit auf andere Regeln des Völkerrechts verweisen? Welche Auswirkungen haben die Äußerungen der Gerichte in Bezug auf den WTO-Vertrag und umgekehrt? Wie sollten Gerichte an Streitigkeiten herangehen, die sowohl WTO-Recht als auch Seerecht betreffen? Wie ist ihr Zusammenspiel geregelt? Die Arbeit bietet Lösungen für vielschichtige Streitigkeiten und trägt damit zur Diskussion über das internationale Verfahrensrecht und das Zusammenspiel von Verträgen und Streitbeilegungsmechanismen bei.

Jurisdictional competition is a relatively new, but increasingly important, phenomenon in European and international law. The ongoing proliferation of various international courts and tribunals results in a multiplication of judgments and arbitral awards, which potentially conflict with each other. Moreover, the ever expanding exclusive jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice into international law issues further exacerbates and complicates the problem by mixing European law principles into international law. The selected cases examined in this book, which cover different areas of international and European law, illustrate the methods applied by various international courts and tribunals to deal with overlapping jurisdictions. Since any formal hierarchy or coordination between the various international courts and tribunals is lacking, it is argued that only soft law methods, such as the application of comity, in particular the Solange-method, appears to be a useful tool to deal with the negative effects associated with jurisdictional competition.

There is ongoing debate as to what competition law and policy is most suitable for developing jurisdictions. This book argues that the unique characteristics of developing jurisdictions matter when crafting and enforcing competition law and these shoul

The subject of declining jurisdiction in private international law is one of enormous practical importance and academic interest. It is also a topic where a comparative approach is particularly revealing. This book contains the 17 national reports and the general report on the subject of`Rules for declining to exercise jurisdiction: Forum Non Conveniens, Lis Pendens'. The Reports were held in Athens/Delphi in August 1994. The list of nations for which a report has been prepared is as follows: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Quebec, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece,Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and USA.This book by bringing together all the reports on `Declining Jurisdiction' provides a unique insight into this topic, and, dealing as it does with a key aspect of private international law, fits very well into the Oxford series of monographs on private international law.