The Internationalization of Antitrust Enforcement

Abstract:     
This article analyzes past efforts to create an internatiional competition law system and then suggests a modest approach toward instituting such a system. Part I discusses both the failed attempts to achieve a true international or harmonized competition law and the greater success of regional efforts. Part II discusses the limited success of antitrust cooperation on a multilateral and explores the more successful regional and bilateral cooperation agreements. Part III examines the governmental, business, and institutional pressures for and against further harmonization or cooperation. Part IV suggests three scenarios under which harmonization and the creation of international antitrust rules are most likely to succeed. Finally, Part V advoctaes the modest goal of an international competiton system that requires each nation to have an effective competition law and to enforce it in a non-discriminatory manner, comporting with existing standards of national and most-favored nation treatment as those terms are understod in international economic law.

Keywords: antitrust, harmonization, cooperation, international antitrust, international trade, World Trade Organization

JEL Classifications: K21, l40, F02, F13

Accepted Paper Series