The Impact of the International Competition Network on Competition Advocacy and Global Competition Collaboration

Abstract

The International Competition Network (ICN) is an informal, virtual network that seeks to facilitate cooperation between competition law authorities globally. This study attempts to determine the impact of the ICN on competition advocacy and global competition collaboration. It does so by examining the impact of the ICN’s Advocacy Working Group’s activities on ICN members’ domestic legislation and analyzing whether the ICN can help domestic competition authorities cooperate in international matters in two principal ways. First, the article assesses the impact of ICN efforts on legislation and international collaboration with respect to competition policy as well as working methods to deal with multinational cases. Second, the article identifies the strengths and weaknesses of ICN strategies and provides recommendations on how to enhance ICN’s operations. These two methods of analysis help to determine if the ICN could serve as the basis for a new approach to address competition issues globally.