Online Survey on the documents on Competition website

12-Nov-2008

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Competition Law and Policy in El Salvador: Peer Review

30-Oct-2008

El Salvador’s first competition law took effect on 1 January 2006. Jointly published by OECD and the IDB, this report reviews competition laws and policies in El Salvador since that date and provides recommendations for further reforms. This report is also available in Spanish.

Calendar of Global Capacity Building Events on competition issues in 2008/2009 - as of 6 November 2008

06-Nov-2008

Many delegates to the Competition Committee have expressed a wish to see increased coordination of capacity building activities worldwide.  Sharing basic information is a good starting point. To this end, a "Calendar of Global Capacity Building Events in 2008/2009" has been compiled in close cooperation with OECD members and observers at the Competition Committee as well as international organisations. The Calendar is regularly updated on the basis of the information provided to the OECD.

Fighting Cartels in Public Procurement (Policy Brief)

15-Oct-2008

Governments devote a large share of taxpayers’ money to public
procurement – purchasing goods and services from road building to school
textbooks. But how can they be sure that they are getting good value for
money, and that companies seeking public contracts are not conspiring to
undermine the principle of competitive bidding?

Substantial Market Power and Competition (Policy Brief)

04-Sep-2008

How to apply competition laws to dominant firms? This question has raised much interest in recent years. While significant differences persist in the enforcement practices of competition regimes around the world, there is substantial agreement that single firm conduct provisions should apply only to firms with a high degree of market power. Unilateral acts by a firm with high degree of market power are much more likely to harm consumer welfare and distort the competitive process than are unilateral act by firms with little or no power.

Plea Bargaining and Settlement of Cartel Cases (Policy Brief)

04-Sep-2008

As competition authorities have stepped up their efforts to detect and punish cartels, several cases have highlighted how differences in enforcement procedures between countries have a substantial impact on the duration of investigations and the resources that a competition authority must commit to a cartel case.

Guidance to Business Monopolisation and Abuse of Dominance

23-Jun-2008

This roundtable focused on how competition authorities can provide businesses with effective guidance on monopolization and abuse of dominance. While some uncertainty over the reach of rules prohibiting anticompetitive unilateral conduct is inevitable, authorities responsible for the enforcement of antitrust laws must strive to provide as much transparency as possible as to their enforcement policies so that businesses can plan and invest with some predictability.

Dynamic Efficiencies in Merger Analysis

16-May-2008

This roundtable addressed the recurring synergies that mergers sometimes create.  These synergies, or “efficiencies,” can have very potent beneficial effects but are devilishly difficult to identify and measure.  The Committee focused on dynamic efficiencies that facilitate or encourage innovation.

Competition brings prosperity

21-Feb-2008

Opening the 100th meeting of the competition committee, Mr. Gurría reminded that competition is vital for economic growth. It stimulates efficiency and higher productivity, it disciplines managers, it reinforces incentives for innovation, and it speeds up the adjustment to change. He also mentioned OECD countries that have implemented pro-competition reforms have seen higher growth rates and lower unemployment than those who failed to reform. They have also proved to be more flexible and resilient to economic shocks.

Competition Assessment Toolkit

15-Jan-2008

To eliminate barriers to competition, governments can use the approach developed in the OECD’s new Competition Assessment Toolkit. The Toolkit is a method for identifying unnecessary restraints on market activities and developing alternative, less restrictive measures that still achieve government policy objectives. It draws on experiences of many OECD jurisdictions and will evolve based on feedback from ongoing country experiences.

Economic survey of Portugal 2008: Maximising the gains from integration in the world economy

25-Jun-2008

Portugal can benefit more from globalisation. This requires further reducing the cost of doing business, promoting competition and improving regulations in infrastructure sectors that provide services to firms.