International and Comparative Competition Laws and Policies

Competition policy is today in the process of adoption In dozens of nations worldwide, at a time when competition laws have necessarily become applicable to such new fields as trade, investment, intellectual property rights, information technology, and global consumer protection. Although vigorous enforcement - especially across borders - remains the most serious challenge to global success, it is also important to recognize that the established American-European model of competition policy may not be the 'right thing' for countries with radically different cultural traditions, especially less-developed countries.

This timely and available book explores the prospects for competition policy, its likely development, and its ever-more-central role in the world trade regime. With this book, interested parties everywhere may benefit from the insightful perspectives of outstanding scholars and policymakers representing Asia Pacific, Europe, and North and South America.

Among the crucial issues investigated are the following:

- the cost of absorbing a new technology;

- distinct and evolving national competition policies and the fabric of world trade;

- extraterritorial enforcement and cooperation agreements;

- criteria for "material injury' in international trade rules;

- collusive technology transfer barriers;

- the reemergence of transnational cartels; and

- the tendency of anti-dumping rules to foster cartelization.

The major competition policy issues on the international agenda - the harmonization of national policies and international trade rules; the integration of intellectual property rights, technology transfer, and investment; and enforcement cooperation across borders - are all analyzed in depth from many different angles. This is an enormously important and valuable book for practitioners, government officials, and academics in this critical area of contemporary law and policy.