Competition Law Enforcement and Compliance across the World A Comparative Review

The globalization of trade has made it necessary to establish an international network of competition laws. Accordingly, more than a hundred jurisdictions have now introduced some kind of competition law provisions into their national legislation. However, it is notorious that enforcement in many countries is weak, erratic, hampered, or sometimes even nonexistent. This comparative study sheds clear light on how competition law provisions are enforced (or are supposed to be enforced) in over ninety jurisdictions worldwide, providing valuable knowledge about both the obstacles that competition authorities face and the characteristics that seem to determine the success of certain competition law systems. Studying jurisdictions with different legal traditions and different levels of economic development, the book discusses such issues and topics as the following:

• origins and proliferation of competition law;

• economic approach to competition law enforcement;

• optimal enforcement of competition law;

• public competition law enforcement;

• private competition law enforcement;

• international enforcement of competition law;

• self-enforcement and antitrust compliance;

• objectives of competition law enforcement;

• multilateral anti-competitive agreements;

• hard-core cartels;

• unilateral anti-competitive conduct;

• merger control;

• institutional design of competition law;

• powers of investigation of competition authorities;

• leniency programs;

• settlements;

• sanctioning systems;

• review and appeals;

• private antitrust litigation;

• legal forum for private antitrust claims;

• standing to bring a private action for breach of competition law;

• rules of evidence;

• remedies for private antitrust litigation;

• nullity;

• injunctive relief;

• declaratory relief;

• damages;

• economic models for calculation of damages;

• litigation expenses;

• interaction between public and private enforcement and concurrent proceedings;

• arbitration of competition law disputes;

• antitrust compliance programs;

• drivers of compliance and noncompliance; and

• interaction between compliance programs and competition law enforcement.

In addition to legislation and case law at all levels, the book draws on the websites of competition authorities and the extensive legal literature in the field. Comprehensive in scope, this book provides interested practitioners, policymakers, and academics with ample description of the variety of competition law regimes, their institutions, and their types of enforcement. An invaluable feature is its best-practice guidance on the experience of countries that have succeeded in building effective competition law regimes.