COMPETITION POLICY AND TRADE LAW: ENFORCEMENT THROUGH RTAs

AND LESSONS FOR INDIA

- Richik Dadhich (1742), UG VI

INTRODUCTION

Trade law and competition law share a common goal, which is the protection of the
competitive process in open markets, thereby maximizing the welfare of the society including
the optimal allocation of international resources and the promotion of innovation. However,
tensions between competition authorities, particularly when they apply their competition law
extraterritorially to foreign companies. Thus, a certain level of harmonization is required.

Bilateral and regional trade agreements (hereinafter “RTA”) may be used for this purpose.
The parties to these agreements may progress by mutual learning and comparative
competition law studies, defining the various local experiences involved in each competition
regime. However, there are large differences across these trade agreements in terms of how
the competition provisions are addressed. In this context, the project will analyse the
competition provisions in few selected FTAs and draw lessons for India, which is also
following the path of entering into trade agreements. For this, special focus would be given to
regional trade agreements which have been entered by North American countries.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 What is the role of trade agreements in the enforcement of competition law?

 Whether it is possible to achieve harmonization in competition law policies across
various countries? What is the role of international trade law in achieving this?
 What are the reasons for including competition law and policy provisions in RTAs?
What are the main types of such provisions?
 How is competition policy addressed in North American Free Trade Agreement?
What lessons does it carry for India?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 To analyze the interface of competition policy and trade law.

 To understand how harmonization can be achieved in trade policies through RTAs.
 To briefly overview the implementation of competition law through RTAs in the
context of North American countries.
  To draw lessons for India and decide on weather a similar path should be followed or
not.

LITERATURE REVIEW
 Robert D. Anderson, Competition Policy, Trade and The Global Economy: Existing
WTO Elements, Commitments in Regional Trade Agreements, Current Challenges
and Issues for Reflection, WTO Staff Working Paper ERSD-2018-12 (2018).
 Heinemann Andreas, Competition and Trade: The Rise of Competition Law in Trade
Agreements and Its Implications for the World Trading System, World Competition,
43(4):521-542.
 Competition Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: How to Assure Development
Gains, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2005),
https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcclp20051_en.pdf.
 Competition Clauses in Bilateral Trade Treaties: Analysing the Issues in the Context
of India’s Future Negotiating Strategy, Competition Commission of India Report,
November 2007,
https://www.cci.gov.in/sites/default/files/bilateral_trade_treaties_20080508105059.pd
f.