3 - The involvement of international bodies and organisations in the field of competition law and policy

Summary

As we saw in chapter 1, the end of the twentieth century witnessed a remarkable proliferation of competition law regimes around the world. As we noted, many of these regimes share important similarities, though fundamental differences do exist between them not least in terms of their experience with the concept of competition and with competition law and policy; equally, differences amongst the different jurisdictions exist in relation to how the process of internationalisation of competition law should be conceived. As was noted in the previous chapter, while the ‘international competition policy scene’ has not witnessed the conclusion of binding commitments on the part of countries, various mechanisms and proceedings within different international fora have been instituted through which consultations, debate and sharing of information and experience between competition authorities in particular have been occurring. It is through these mechanisms and proceedings that the internationalisation of competition law has mostly continued to gain renewed impetus. They have especially provided support to those in favour of internationalisation to push the whole idea forward; despite the emergence of serious setbacks over the years which derailed various internationalisation efforts on more than one occasion. The different mechanisms and proceedings referred to here are particularly noteworthy because most of them have emerged within the framework of international organisations, which have played a major role in keeping the internationalisation debate alive and in furthering the understanding of competition law globally, as well as in spreading competition law itself around the world and helping many countries build much-needed capabilities to enforce it.