Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Gal, Michal S.; Fox, Eleanor M. --- "Drafting competition law for developing jurisdictions: learning from experience" [2015] ELECD 736; in Gal, S. Michal; Bakhoum, Mor; Drexl, Josef; Fox, M. Eleanor; Gerber, J. David (eds), "The Economic Characteristics of Developing Jurisdictions" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 296

Book Title: The Economic Characteristics of Developing Jurisdictions

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

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783471492

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Drafting competition law for developing jurisdictions: learning from experience

Author(s): Gal, Michal S.; Fox, Eleanor M.

Number of pages: 61

Abstract/Description:

How should one draft a competition law for a developing country? Is the project an easy job of mark-up, following the lead of mature jurisdictions? Or is it a complicated and thought-enlisting project that requires knowledge of the terrain, technical expertise, and a talent for synthesizing local market context with global rules and standards? This chapter argues for the latter. Approximately half of all developing jurisdictions have a competition law, and more are considering enacting one. Many enforce their laws, at least to some extent. The laws should be seen in the larger context of competition policy. Competition law and policy reduce anticompetitive barriers and prevent exploitations and abuse. They ease the economic plight of people without power – those who are most vulnerable to inflated prices of necessities of life and to blocked market access. They can help to increase a nation’s economic growth and reduce poverty, and can play a role in distributing gains from trade more widely within society. The colorful quote from Paul Godek misses the point entirely when he says: ‘Exporting antitrust . . . is like giving a silk tie to a starving man. It is superfluous; a starving man has much more immediate needs’. Markets that have at least a minimum level of operating markets and an operating legal system, with competition law to protect them, help fill the starving man’s needs – putting bread on his table and opportunity under his belt.