Author(s)
Abbott B. Lipsky
Source
Antitrust Law Journal, Vol. 75, No. 3, ABA, 2009; conference paper from the Searle Symposium, “The End of the Microsoft Antitrust Case?”, Nov. 15-16, 2007.
Summary
This article looks at the how firms manage antitrust compliance problems on a global scale.
Policy Relevance
Managing the task of warding off antitrust problems is a difficult business problem, as laws vary around the world.
Main Points
- Competition law regulators are becoming more active in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Cases involving multinational enterprises like Microsoft have global ramifications.
- New trade agreements and organizations and new laws in places like China and Egypt mean that most of the world’s economically active nations now have antitrust laws.
- Approaches to enforcement vary, from safe harbors to criminal sanctions.
- Managing antitrust concerns has become a significant management problem for businesses.
- Firms must first become aware of competition law compliance issues.
- Prevention is cheaper than dealing with a lawsuit once it arises, but prevention is hard because the risk is hard to assess and the law is not always clear.
- In the EU, advice on antitrust from lawyers can be used as evidence.
- An investigation in one place can quickly lead to others around the world.
- Businesses should monitor “leading edge” trends.
- Firms must deploy resources to ensure that they comply with competition rules.
- Teams can combine counsel from different jurisdictions, but local counsel from places where laws are new might not have much experience.
- Compliance is difficult because the rules are very complex, and vary from place to place.
- Cultural factors as well as legal factors are important.
