Implication of Globalisation for Competition Policy : The Need for International Co-Operation in Merger and Cartel Enforcement

The complexity of co-operation in cross-border competition law enforcement increased significantly between 1990 and 2011, underlining the urgency to improve techniques and tools of competition authority co-operation. As international trade has increased, the number of competition law enforcement activities related to cross-border mergers and cartels has risen substantially (up by about 250-466% since the 1990s). At the same time, the number of competition authorities has increased by a factor of 6 since 1990, from under 20 to 120 as of 2013. The spread of competition law is a positive development but co-operation has become more complicated as a result. Between 1990 and 2011, an index of complexity of co-operation on cross-border cases has increased by between 23 and 53 times. As trade and cross-border business activity increases in the future, and young competition authorities become more active, effective co-operation will become even more complicated. Ultimately, the complexity of co-operation can lead to undesirable outcomes, such as inconsistent decisions and unchallenged illegal conduct. The costs of failures of co-operation are identified, and found to be substantial. To overcome potential failures in co-operation, new and enhanced methods of competition law co-operation should be explored