The Global Limits Of Competition Law

Over the last three decades, the field of antitrust law has grown increasingly prominent, and more than one hundred countries have enacted competition law statutes. As competition law expands to jurisdictions with very different economic, social, cultural, and institutional backgrounds, the debates over its usefulness have similarly evolved. This book, the first in a new series on global competition law, critically assesses the importance of competition law, its development and modern practice, and the global limits that have emerged. This volume will be a key resource to both scholars and practitioners interested in antitrust, competition law, economics, business strategy, and administrative sciences.

What the authors offer is a thoroughgoing analysis clearly demonstrating that, whatever economic path developing countries pursue, imposing Western-style antitrust regimes will engender uncertainty, chill economic behaviour, and foster an unhealthy climate for business. They employ the influential error-cost methodology to appraise the performance of competition policy and to show how such a policy creates irresolvable tensions in fragile economies with weak institutions - economies characterized by informal rules of business practice, long-standing symbiotic business-state relationships, and unpredictable state action. They mount a powerful critique of the arguments of neo-institutionalists (who fail to recognize the vulnerable nature of emerging market economies) and competition `advocates' (who presume to stand ready and vigilant to enforce competition policy on state entities). --

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: A, Queen's University, language: English, abstract: This paper uses a blend of empirical literature and real-life examples of merger approvals and rejections to derive limits of international Competition Laws (CL). I separate the detected problems in generic weaknesses that relate to the nature of CL itself from derivative weaknesses that harken back to shady regulation and disharmonies across the globe. Generic weaknesses encompass an unclear balance of power between Intellection Property (IP) Law and CL, the CL’s potentially slowing effect on innovation, the economically muddled rationale behind the law and the distortion of its enforcement due to the law’s historical evolution and differences in cultural values. Derivative weaknesses are mainly based on the creation of misleading incentives derived from conflicting CLs and their enforcement across the globe. The establishment of an international harmonization treaty could be discussed in one of the upcoming WTO rounds to reach an agreement about the mutually beneficial maximization of global welfare.

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: A, Queen's University, language: English, abstract: This paper uses a blend of empirical literature and real-life examples of merger approvals and rejections to derive limits of international Competition Laws (CL). I separate the detected problems in generic weaknesses that relate to the nature of CL itself from derivative weaknesses that harken back to shady regulation and disharmonies across the globe. Generic weaknesses encompass an unclear balance of power between Intellection Property (IP) Law and CL, the CL's potentially slowing effect on innovation, the economically muddled rationale behind the law and the distortion of its enforcement due to the law's historical evolution and differences in cultural values. Derivative weaknesses are mainly based on the creation of misleading incentives derived from conflicting CLs and their enforcement across the globe. The establishment of an international harmonization treaty could be discussed in one of the upcoming WTO rounds to reach an agreement about the mutually beneficial maximization of global welfare.

Moreover, states have powerful incentives to permit domestic industries to exploit outsiders, or even to facilitate such practices. High-profile antitrust conflicts, from the prosecution of Microsoft in state, national, and international forums to the transatlantic disagreement over the European Union's merger policy, illustrate the difficulties. Possible solutions to these problems range from improved intergovernmental cooperation, to direct policy harmonization, to a new regime of "structured competition" in antitrust policy modeled on U.S. corporation law.

Theoretical discussions among competition lawyers and economists on the approach to Resale resale Price price Maintenance maintenance (RPM) and Vertical vertical Territorial territorial Restrictions restrictions (VTR) have often caused controversy. However, commentators agree that there is a lack of comprehensive study surrounding the topic. This book explores these two forms of anticompetitive conduct from legal, historical, economical, and theoretical points of view, focusing on the EU and US experiences. The author expertly goes beyond the current legal practice to explain, among other things, what approach should apply to RPM and VTR, and why RPM and VTR are introduced in situations where procompetitive theories would not make economic sense, or do not apply in practice. The book takes account of economic values, such as efficiency and welfare, as well as other values, such as freedom, fairness and free competition. Scholars and students of law will find the book’s depth of legal, economic and historical analysis to be a rich contribution to the scholarship. This book will also be of use to EU and US practitioners, and enforcers dealing with RPM and VTR cases.

This title covers international and comparative issues of antitrust law, economics, and policy. It can be used to enrich U.S. antitrust casebooks or by itself for courses on global antitrust. It addresses all major issues of competition law and global competition policy, including extraterritoriality; global norms; cooperation, convergence, and divergence; the state's role in restraining or facilitating competition; process and procedures; and substantive areas including cartels, horizontal and vertical agreements, abuse of dominance, and mergers. It compares developed and developing jurisdictions. It references numerous jurisdictions, including the European Union, China, Japan, India, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Latin American countries.

ÔNearly every important country now has a competition law. It is vital to understand the institutions that drive the operation of these laws. This excellent volume provides case studies of some of the more substantial new competition authorities written by former or current top agency officials and academics closely connected with those institutions. The book highlights the fact that whilst these institutions have certain features in common, they are very much shaped by the history and circumstances of their own countries and cultures, and that any serious prescription for them needs to balance those factors against the general economic doctrines that lie behind competition law around the world. Without that understanding, regulators and those dealing with them are likely to face failure. The book points to ways of resolving those problems.Õ Ð Allan Fels, The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) This detailed book focuses on the development of competition law institutions and contains case studies that examine this against the backdrop of the debate around global convergence of competition law and the limits imposed by particular national circumstances. Five of the chapters examine the development of competition law regimes in a diverse range of countries: Mexico, Hungary, South Africa, Thailand (with comparative remarks on South Korea) and Zambia. The remaining chapters examine the role of multinational institutions, particularly the International Competition Network, and the practice of and potential for regional competition law arrangements. The majority of the authors are seasoned practitioners of competition law, all of whom acknowledge the importance of convergence, while simultaneously demonstrating the limits imposed by divergent national circumstances. This carefully edited collection is a companion volume to Enforcing Competition Rules in South Africa, an account of the development of competition law institutions in South Africa, authored by David Lewis and published by Edward Elgar. Building New Competition Law Regimes will be of particular benefit to scholars, teachers and practitioners of competition law. It will also be of interest to development studies scholars, teachers and practitioners and to specialists in the countries that are the subjects of the case studies.