Publication: Economic Development, Competition Policy, and the World Trade Organization
Date
2002-10
ISSN
Published
2002-10
Author(s)
Abstract
At the recent World Trade Organization
(WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, WTO members called
for the launch of negotiations on disciplines relating to
competition based on explicit consensus on modalities to be
agreed at the fifth WTO ministerial meeting in 2003. WTO
discussions since 1997 have revealed little support for
ambitious multilateral action. Proponents of the WTO
antitrust disciplines currently propose an agreement that is
limited to "core principles"-nondiscrimination,
transparency, and provisions banning "hard core"
cartels. The authors argue that an agreement along such
lines will create compliance costs for developing countries
without addressing the anticompetitive behavior of firms
located in foreign jurisdictions. To be unambiguously
beneficial to low-income countries, any WTO antitrust
disciplines should recognize the capacity constraints that
prevail in these economies, make illegal collusive business
practices by firms with international operations that raise
prices in developing country markets, and require
competition authorities in high-income countries to take
action against firms located in their jurisdictions to
defend the interests of affected developing country
consumers. More generally, a case is made that traditional
liberalization commitments using existing WTO fora will be
the most effective means of lowering prices and increasing
access to an expanded variety of goods and services.
Citation
“Hoekman, Bernard; Mavroidis, Petros C.. 2002. Economic Development, Competition Policy, and the World Trade Organization. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2917. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19221 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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