9 - The bilateral option: cooperation between competition authorities

Summary

The focus of this chapter will be on bilateral cooperation between competition authorities: what can be termed the bilateral option. The mechanism of bilateral cooperation can be considered to be an old one in the field of competition law and a considerable amount of literature has been written on the topic. Among other things, the chapter will consider the different types of bilateral cooperation and their use in actual cases. The chapter will provide a critical analysis of the strategy including a look at its advantages and disadvantages and consider some examples of bilateral agreements that have come to be concluded over the years. The chapter will conclude with a look towards the future in order to consider possible directions for developing bilateral cooperation and offer a policy perspective in this respect.

Bilateral cooperation ‘through’ extraterritoriality

The previous chapter demonstrated, among other things, that the doctrine of extraterritoriality – regardless of its ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’ as an option – is one means of international enforcement in the field of competition law. However it is a means that has serious limitations: even if one were to imagine a world built on extraterritoriality, the doctrine can be explosively problematic and is not necessarily capable of offering a solution to a perceived competition problem. Most notably, the doctrine suffers from serious limitation at the enforcement level.