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Bakhoum, Mor --- "Introduction" [2012] ELECD 885; in Drexl, Josef; Bakhoum, Mor; Fox, M. Eleanor; Gal, S. Michal; Gerber, J. David (eds), "Competition Policy and Regional Integration in Developing Countries" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Competition Policy and Regional Integration in Developing Countries

Editor(s): Drexl, Josef; Bakhoum, Mor; Fox, M. Eleanor; Gal, S. Michal; Gerber, J. David

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781004302

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Bakhoum, Mor

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

Introduction
Mor Bakhoum

The last decade has witnessed an increasing number of developing coun-
tries enacting competition laws and policies either on the national or on the
regional level in the framework of regional trade agreements (RTAs). This
development seems to stem from a mainstream view that regionalizing
competition policies is a pertinent policy for developing countries. Regional
competition policies, it is thought, would help developing countries not
only overcome their lack of efficient institutional settings and enforcement
challenges, but also ensure better control over free competition in their
newly created common free trade areas.
As a consequence, competition-related provisions in RTAs are becoming
`commonplace'. This trend has even been referred to by Michal Gal as the
`new wave of regionalism'.1 Not surprisingly, competition-related pro-
visions in RTAs have attracted a lot of attention in the international arena
recently and developing countries are keen to enact regional competition
policies given the promise of such an approach. Although a broad consensus
seems to exist on the benefits of regionalizing competition policies for
development, the issue of the design of a regional competition law and
policy adapted to the economic, political and cultural situation of develop-
ing countries remains an unsettled question.
The literature2 exploring this new trend in developing countries is very
optimistic on the potential benefits of regional integration and regional
competition policies in achieving their development objectives. The current
scholarship has the merits of providing valuable insights on the experiences
in different regional integration systems. However, ...