COMPETITION POLICY: WG SEES NO AGREEMENT ON NEGOTIATIONS
The WTO Working Group on Interaction between Trade and Competition Policy met from 26-27 May, and discussed, inter alia, whether negotiations should be launched in this area. The EU supports the launch of negotiations on the four so called Singapore issues — competition policy, investment, government procurement and trade facilitation — at the fifth WTO Ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September. Many developing countries oppose negotiations and have questioned whether the WTO would be an appropriate forum (see BRIDGES Weekly, 5 March 2003). The Working Group meeting was the last one prior to the Cancun Ministerial, and many developing countries, including Tanzania, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, India and Nigeria, stressed that they see no agreement on launching negotiations and questioned the benefits of such an agreement for developing countries. Thailand stressed that developing country concerns had not been addressed so far, and noted that while compliance costs for developed countries would be minimal, implementing competition rules would be a burden in the developing world.
Also at the meeting, Members discussed a compliance mechanism for a possible WTO Agreement on Competition Policy, with submissions from several developed countries. The US, Japan, Korea and Australia supported a voluntary peer review system, while the EU preferred a combination of peer review and WTO dispute settlement. Canada said it doesn’t see the value of dispute settlement to achieve compliance, and called for a cooperative and non-confrontational approach. India continued to oppose dispute settlement. The Indian delegate cautioned that a peer review process would be used to pressure developing countries, and said that if such a process was put in place, it should be under the auspices of UNCTAD. The EU submitted a paper on special treatment for developing countries stressing that "the only substantive provision that we envisage would be an obligation for WTO members to enact in their domestic competition law a ban on hard core cartels," and suggesting "individualised" timeframes for developing countries in setting up competition regimes.
ICTSD reporting.