Trade and competition policies exploring the ways forward ; [Conference on Trade Competition held on 29 - 30 June 1999 at the OECD]

68 Pages·1999·0.266 MB·English

by  OECD

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OECD PROCEEDINGS
TRADE AND COMPETITION
POLICIES
Exploring the Ways Forward
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
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ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
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FOREWORD
For several years now, the relevant authorities in OECD Member
countries have discussed trade and competition issues within the OECD’s Joint
Group on Trade and Competition. The competition and trade authorities, which
make up the Joint Group, wished to extend discussion to representatives of non-
OECD emerging countries, business, trade unions, academics and non
governmental organisations.
The main objective of the Conference (29 and 30 June 1999) was to
encourage a lively and informal exchange of views on the interaction between
trade and competition policies in the run-up to the November 1999 WTO
Ministerial meeting. To encourage such an exchange, each participant spoke in
his or her personal capacity. The OECD Secretary General opened the meeting.
Keynote speakers included the former Vice-President of the European
Commission Sir Leon Brittan and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein.
The Emerging Market Economy Forum (EMEF) within the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sponsored this
policy dialogue between Member and non-Member countries, with the
assistance of the United Kingdom Department for International Development.
This volume is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of
the OECD.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary
by The Secretariat................................................................................................7
The interface of trade and competition policies...............................................7
Private anti-competitive practices....................................................................9
Government regulation...................................................................................11
Reform of trade policy....................................................................................11
The need for data............................................................................................12
The development dimension............................................................................13
The application of competition law in developing countries..........................15
Social, environmental and consumer dimensions...........................................16
Options for increased coherence -- overview.................................................17
Bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral options.............................................18
Core principles...............................................................................................21
Dispute settlement..........................................................................................22
Cooperation and technical assistance............................................................23
Opening Remarks
by Donald J. Johnston,
OECD Secretary-General...................................................................................25
Increasing importance of trade and competition interactions........................25
Work at OECD on Trade and Competition....................................................26
General principles guiding OECD work on Trade and Competition.............27
Preview of issues at the conference................................................................27
The Need for a Multilateral Framework of Competition Rules
Keynote Address
by The Rt Hon Sir Leon Brittan QC,
Vice-President of the European Commission
Why develop a multilateral approach?...........................................................29
Scope and elements of a multilateral agreement in the WTO.........................32
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A Reality Check on Antitrust Rules in the World Trade Organization, and
a Practical Way Forward on International Antitrust
Keynote Address
by Joel I. Klein
Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division,
United States Department of Justice..................................................................37
The evolving world of international antitrust enforcement............................38
The case against WTO negotiations on antitrust rules...................................41
The way forward on international antitrust: Creating a culture
of competition..............................................................................................43
OECD Conference on Trade and Competition
Issues Paper
by The Secretariat..............................................................................................47
Introduction....................................................................................................47
Trade, regulation and competition: What are the problems?........................47
Cartels.........................................................................................................47
Standard setting and licensing.....................................................................49
Vertical agreements and market access.......................................................49
Monopolization/abuse of dominance and market access............................51
Mergers and market access.........................................................................52
Intellectual property rights..........................................................................52
The effect of trade remedies on competition...............................................53
The effect of regulation on trade and competition......................................54
Options to improve the coherence between trade
and competition policies.................................................................................55
Enhanced voluntary convergence in competition laws
and enforcement practices........................................................................55
Enhanced bilateral voluntary co-operation between
competition agencies................................................................................57
Regional agreements containing competition provisions...........................58
Plurilateral competition policy agreements.................................................59
Multilateral competition policy agreements................................................60
Multilateral competition rules........................................................................60
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SUMMARY*
by
The Secretariat
Conference participants acknowledged the value of the OECD’s work
and the timeliness of the conference in the run-up to the WTO Seattle
Ministerial. In their presentations and discussion, the following key points
emerged:
The interface of trade and competition policies
− There was general agreement that the interface between trade and
competition policies has become more important due to the
ongoing process of economic globalization.
The ongoing process of globalization has led to concern in many
countries about the potential for competition-related problems to result.
There were calls also for the trade policy agenda to be more informed
by competition policy principles. Examples included technical barriers to trade,
standards, regulatory reform, government procurement, trade remedies and
telecommunications. In some countries, the competition authority already
participates in the design of trade policy.
− There was widespread appreciation of the importance of
competition and competition law and policy and open and
transparent trade policies.

* A detailed aide-memoire of the discussion is available on the Internet site of
the Conference: http://www.oecd.org/daf/ech.
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A number of participants remarked on the proliferation of national
competition laws and institutions in recent years, indicating an increased
consciousness of the importance of competition law and policy. Over 80
countries were said to now have competition laws.
The proliferation of competition laws may be a mixed blessing. While
the increasing number of countries with competition law coincides with the
move to market economies and deregulation, there was concern that some new
competition authorities were not transparent or were overly mechanical in their
approach (e.g., focussed on concern over bigness rather than actual abuse of
dominance). There was also concern over the creation of legislation without the
resources necessary for enforcement. This was seen as a systemic problem -- a
kind of political market failure -- because there is no lobby in favor of
competition policy while there are strong lobbies against the introduction of
competition. Competition advocacy is often insufficient to overcome the
lobbying power of interest groups.
Most participants said that trade and competition policies were
complementary and shared similar goals, though an important difference was
that competition policy tended to target private action, while trade policy looked
more at the action of states.
− Some gaps exist in the interface of the two policies
Some participants noted that some kinds of disputes are not readily
handled by either trade or competition policy. Disputes involving the
distribution sector were cited. In addition, it was important to keep in mind that
many of the barriers to market access identified by business fall outside the
purview of competition law. Eliminating barriers to market access by foreign
firms is not an intrinsic objective of competition law.
− The case of industrial over-capacity
One participant evoked the problems of industrial over-capacity,
arguing that, in the absence of government action to get to the causes of such
over-capacity, the firms would be driven to cartel conduct.
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