ABSTRACT
The international dimensions of competition policy have become a ‘new issue’ in international economic policy in recent years.1 The proximate cause of this growing concern is an increasing frequency of disputes among governments or producers over alleged anticompetitive behaviour that involves two or more nations. In the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the primary concern is that anticompetitive behaviour by producer agents may restrict international trade in goods and services and reduce the benefits of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) liberalisation of government barriers to this trade. In the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the concern is with the growing problems of national competition authorities in administering their national competition laws. There is, however, an underlying reason for these concerns — namely, the increasingly international nature of competition which has resulted from the reduction in border barriers to international trade in goods, services and capital. This trend is likely to continue. Consequently, the international dimensions of competition policy are certain to become more prominent in the international forums.
