Antiglobalization and the future of antitrust enforcement across the world_Presentation at the second FCP Annual Conference, 20-21 October 2017, Florence
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• Antitrust can be used in myriad ways to achieve protectionist results.
• Antitrust statutory objectives can be broadly defined to justify
protectionist policies – China – socialist market economy
• Industrial structure can be outside the purview of antitrust law -
Singapore
• Antitrust agencies can be directly or indirectly influenced by
governments where they lack effective independence. China, Vietnam,
several other Asian countries
• Exemptions and exclusions can explicitly protect sectors from scrutiny
– SOEs, ‘natural monopolies’, government activities,
Protectionism through antitrust
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• Certain practices can be specifically targeted for enforcement such as
‘abuse of intellectual property rights’ - China
• Enforcement policies and targeting of investigations can be skewed to
protect home players.
• Deficient transparency and due process standards can be utilized to
disguise protectionist investigations.
• Confidential commercial information obtained fro merger filings can be
leaked to domestic rivals.
• Remedies can be imposed that are disproportionate or can be
conditioned in such a way as to unfairly benefit home players.
Protectionism through antitrust (2)
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• Foreign investment reviews – Australia, proposed in EU and UK.
• National security reviews - USA, Australia, China (not used as yet)
• Trade remedies – anti-dumping, anti-subsidy penalties.
• Public procurement policies
• State aid to selected home players – most countries do not have an
independent regulator unlike the EU.
• Special treatment for SOEs
Other protectionist tools
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• Antonio will speak on SOEs and globalisation
• Semin will speak on competition law enforcement, globalisation and
protectionism
• Enzo will speak on road block to multilateral antitrust convergence
• Mathew will speak on protectionist pressures on competition agencies
from an industry perspective
Panelists contributions
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1. What incentives are there to ensure that governments do not resort to
protectionist uses of antitrust?
2. Whose job is it to persuade governments not to use antitrust to achieve
protectionist aims?
3. What are the best ways for governments to achieve a level playing
field on international level between SOEs and private competitors?
4. What are the prospects and road-blocks for a multilateral antitrust instrument
and enforcement mechanism?
5. What role can play the OECD in these efforts?
6. How can competition agencies be shielded from protectionist pressures?
Questions for discussion
