Globalization of Antitrust: History and Prospects -Part 5

2. Non-EU Competition Law

In the past three decades, almost all countries in the world have promulgated their own competition law systems. Many countries have adopted administrative enforcement systems similar to those of the European Union and seek inspiration from the EU's specific competition law provisions. This approach may be because most of these countries, such as the European Union, have civil law systems. They can quickly take binding enforcement actions through administrative procedures.

As it did in Europe after World War II, the United States played an important role in supporting the proliferation of competition laws. After the drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States regarded competition law as a means to guide culture to former communist countries and developing countries in general. In 2001, under the requirements of the United States and Europe, the International Competition Network (ICN) was established as a forum for technical cooperation between competition authorities. ICN is unique in several ways. It has a wide range of members, 139 institutions from 126 jurisdictions (as of January 2021), including almost all competition agencies in the world (except for the Chinese institutions, the State Administration for Market Regulation). It specializes in competition issues and focuses on discrete projects. It aims to achieve procedural and substantive convergence through the formulation of consensus, non-binding "best practice" recommendations and reports, and to provide an important platform for non-governmental consultants from business, legal, economic, consumer, and academic circles and experts from other international organizations.