International coordination of competition rules

Author: Wang Zhongmei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: In today's world, the interdependence among countries' economies is continuously strengthening, and the influence of multinational corporations is expanding. These factors pose severe challenges to competition management. In such a global economy characterized by international exchanges, fostering competition requires domestic managers to adopt new approaches and a set of international competition rules, the need for which is becoming increasingly prominent with the development of practice. Historically, the formulation of competition law was considered an element of general economic policy, but the focus has now shifted to pursuing effective methods for protecting and managing global competition that can be accepted by all countries. This book reviews unilateral, bilateral, regional, and multilateral efforts to establish international competition policy, arguing that existing unilateral approaches and cooperation between national competition authorities are insufficient to address the issue. It explores feasible ways to reach a global unified competition rule and proposes recommendations on the structure and content of global competition rules, particularly the essential elements and key focus areas that should be addressed first. In summary, this book provides a framework for debate and negotiation in this important and fascinating field. The book is divided into five chapters.
Chapter 1 explores the economic definition of competition and briefly reviews the formation of the legal rationale of competition law.
Chapter 2 examines the two main reasons for the need to coordinate competition rules: extraterritorial jurisdiction in domestic competition law and substantive differences between standards and rules. Extraterritorial enforcement of domestic competition law leads to direct conflicts between national jurisdictions, while differing standards and rules result in different conclusions in similar cases.
Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive review of unilateral, bilateral, regional, and multilateral efforts to resolve international competition law and policy disputes, emphasizing the importance and necessity of multilateral approaches.
Chapter 4 focuses on key issues in establishing an international competition legal system. Currently, defining the core principles of international antitrust and delving into their substantive content is of extraordinary urgency. This book attempts to explore a framework for multilateral competition negotiations and offers specific legislative recommendations on pressing issues, such as combating international core cartels, regulating mergers and acquisitions, establishing unified enforcement agencies, and designing liability and remedy measures.
Chapter 5, as the final part of the book, addresses the perplexing dilemma faced by most developing countries: how to balance competition law with economic development policies? This chapter reminds readers that competition law is not a panacea but has proven to be highly useful for economic development. It also provides a detailed analysis and evaluation of China's recent competition legislation efforts.