Competition Policy and Regulation

Abstract

These are the introduction and concluding remarks to an edited volume on Competition policy and regulation, recent developments in China, the US and Europe. The introduction to the volume sketches that the reason for writing a volume comparing China, the US and Europe is the recent enactment of the anti-monopoly law in China. The goal of the book is to sketch the anti-monopoly law and to compare it with developments in Europe and the US. The concluding remarks make clear that China has set an important step with the introduction of this anti-monopoly law. Given that China already had a spectacular economic growth, even without a competition policy some questioned the necessity to have an AML at all, but it is argued to be important to have a competition policy “on tap”. Horizontal restrains, vertical restrains and merger policy are discussed whereby developments in the US and Europe are compared with developments in China. The concluding remarks make clear that although the AML provides the necessary scoop for an adequate competition policy the effectiveness of this statute will to a large extent depend upon its implementation and enforcement in practice. In that respect particular worries arise, given that 3 different agencies are responsible for implementation and that questions also arise concerning the ability and willingness of those agencies to apply the AML also to state owned enterprises and to administrative monopolies.

Keywords: competition policy, regulation, China, US, Europe, horizontal restrains, price fixing, enforcement, mergers

JEL Classification: K21, K41