ABSTRACT
This chapter has two central purposes: first, to reflect on what we have learned from one hundred years of domestic antitrust experience in selected Western industrialised economies; and, second, to explore some of the international dimensions of antitrust/competition policy in the light of globalisation of markets and consequent pressures for harmonisation of many domestic policies, including competition policy. The second section of this chapter sets out the basic economic function of competition laws in addressing the problem of monopoly or market power in its various manifestations. The third section provides brief overviews of the evolution of competition laws in the United States, Canada and the European Union. The fourth section identifies a number of important procedural and institutional issues in the design and administration of domestic competition law regimes that are highlighted by the comparative experience. The final section examines various international dimensions of domestic competition laws.
