Competition Law in the Western World: Legal Framework in European and American Jurisdictions

Abstract

Any study in Competition law makes the examination of the position of the European Union (EU) and USA competition regime focal as these are the two most important economic blocks of the present times. EU regime has been applied for more than fifty years and is considered one of the most mature regimes in the world; secondly and even more importantly, competition law in the EU has been applied on a transnational level, since the EU itself is a regional bloc. At the same time US antitrust law experience and its influence on thought, expectations and interpretations of competition law around the world and at experience has long been central to international competition law. Many countries have turned to the US law in shaping their own competition law decisions, and US competition law thinking has influenced the thinking of scholars, administrators and political decision makers virtually everywhere including India where the competition law is a mix of both EU and American regimes.