Trade
and Competition
There
is a general consensus among many countries that trade liberalisation
fosters competition. However, as tariffs have been reduced to
improve market access, increasing liberalisation and globalisation
of markets and companies has highlighted concerns about possible
non-tariff barriers. In the case of trade and competition, the
concern is that anti-competitive practices may act as barriers
to trade. Anti-competitive behaviour can involve, for example:
collusion to divide markets and/or increase prices; or abuse
of monopoly power to keep out competitors and increase prices.
Both in themselves and if they have an impact on trade, such
practices can significantly harm consumers, other businesses
and ultimately lead to a less efficient economy. Attention has
therefore been drawn to examining the effectiveness of national
competition policies in addressing the anti-competitive behaviour
of firms.
The
WTO already
has some provisions on competition in existing agreements, example
the agreements on services and telecommunications. And since
1996, a WTO Working Group, consisting of the member countries,
has been exploring the interaction between trade and competition.
That work has recently been extended to look further at the
issues, including the overall objective of an international
approach to competition policy and how it could promote trade.
No
decision has yet been taken on whether this process should lead
to the negotiation of international competition rules. The Government
supports the negotiations in principle, but there are concerns
on the nature of any rules and how they would work in practice,
particularly in relation to existing competition law. Moreover,
the development needs of countries would have to be fully considered.
We are contributing to addressing these issues through the European
Union in the WTO, taking account of consumer, business and
other interests. We are responsible for developing UK policy
on trade and competition in conjunction with other interested
DTI Directorates, particularly Consumer Competition
Policy, the Department For International Development and
other Government Departments.
The
attached UK Government Briefing takes account of EU proposals
for new WTO agreements on Trade & Competition and Trade
& Investment. The Briefing is intended to compliment discussions
taking place in the UK with business and civil society leading
up to the WTO Ministerial in Cancun in September 2003.
UK
Government Briefing 
(160kb)
UK Government Briefing
(270kb)
Contact:
Dave Harvey
Tel: 020 7215 4504
e-mail david.harvey@dti.gsi.gov.uk
Related
work on competition is ongoing in the OECD
and UNCTAD.
Last
updated 17 June 2003
