• Historical perspective

• Importance of competition laws

• Possible approach to competition law development

• develop core substantive laws and the institutions to enforce them;

• increase public awareness and acceptance of the benefits of competition law for consumers and the economy.

• refine the expertise and the tools to perform the enforcement tasks well.

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• Maintenance of free competition

• Prevention of abuses of market power;

• Foster economic efficiency

• Promotion of international competitiveness

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�. CORE ELEMENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE COMPETITION LAW

• Legal standard and approaches may vary (e.g. civil versus criminal provisions, per se prohibitions versus rule of reason approach).

• Different models effective and appropriate depending upon economic circumstances, legal and constitutional frameworks.

• At minimum, legislation should include:

• prohibitions against collusive practices such as price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation agreements (so-called �ard core cartels��).

• measures to address situations involving monopolization of markets or the abuse of market power by dominant firms.

• measures to deal with mergers that are or are likely to have a negative impact on competition.

• compulsory merger prenotification helpful to provide an early warning system and ensure that effective remedial action can be taken.

• Canadian approach combines civil and criminal measures.

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�. SCOPE AND COVERAGE

• Competition rules should apply equally to domestic and foreign firms.

• Different national competition laws contain different exemptions and defenses for specific sectors, market structures and activities.

• These vary due to factors often unrelated to competition policy considerations.

• Some sectors (e.g. natural monopolies) may require regulation to promote efficiency. However, competitive principles should be applied to the greatest possible extent.

• Canadian experience with legislated competition policy advocacy role has been positive in promoting liberalization of sector specific regulation.

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�. ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS

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• Dedicated competition law enforcement agency important to develop and consolidate expertise, provide resources and incentives to enforcement.

• Agency may combine investigative and adjudicative functions. Alternatively, some competition law regimes (such as Canada) provide for institutional separation of investigative and adjudicative functions.

• Key institutional features:

• independence and objectivity of enforcement agency

• transparency in enforcement policies and decision-making

• fairness and impartiality in adjudication process. Can be achieved through judicial independence, public distribution of reasons for decisions, public proceedings.

• Agency structure, personnel and financial resources play a role in the ability of the agency to effectively enforce the law.

• Enforcement strategies and approaches also play a role in determining the effectiveness of the agency.

• Given trend to globalization of business, important for agencies to be cognizant of potential international dimension to anti-competitive practices and to cooperate with other agencies to extent possible.

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�. INVESTIGATORY POWERS AND SANCTIONS

• Adequate formal powers necessary to ensure information critical to investigation can be obtained in a timely fashion, coupled with sanctions for non-compliance with compulsory processes.

• Adequate confidentiality safeguards important to:

• ensure integrity of the investigative process

• protect commercially sensitive information

• ensure fairness to those accused of allegations.

• Meaningful sanctions required to ensure compliance. Some anti-competitive practices may be better addressed through remedial measures (structural and behavioural remedies) rather than sanctions after the fact.

• Variety of additional tools can facilitate effective enforcement �� injunctions or interim remedial orders, power to sanction violations of remedial orders, legislated compliance tools.

• Enforcement can be enhanced through explicit mechanisms to encourage voluntary compliance and promote pro-active avoidance of potential violations (e.g. advance rulings, public education activities.)

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�. CONCLUSION

• Competition rules and institutions may take variety of forms, although some key elements can be identified.

• Process is evolutionary and will go hand in hand with growth in public awareness of benefits of competition law enforcement.

• Canadian experience has demonstrated importance of effective competition laws to facilitate structural adjustment.