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Competition law is a law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies.〔http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2281756〕 Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. In Korea and Japan, the competition law prevents certain forms of conglomerates. Competition law is considered a tool to stimulate economic growth in many of Asia's developing countries, including India. In addition, competition law has promoted fairness in China and Indonesia as well as international integration in Vietnam.〔 Competition law is known as antitrust law in the United States and European Union,〔http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/overview_en.html〕 and as anti-monopoly law in China 〔 and Russia. In previous years it has been known as trade practices law in the United Kingdom and Australia. The history of competition law reaches back to the Roman Empire. The business practices of market traders, guilds and governments have always been subject to scrutiny, and sometimes severe sanctions. Since the 20th century, competition law has become global. The two largest and most influential systems of competition regulation are United States antitrust law and European Union competition law. National and regional competition authorities across the world have formed international support and enforcement networks. Modern competition law has historically evolved on a country level to promote and maintain fair competition in markets principally within the territorial boundaries of nation-states. National competition law usually does not cover activity beyond territorial borders unless it has significant effects at nation-state level.〔 Countries may allow for extraterritorial jurisdiction in competition cases based on so-called effects doctrine.〔〔JG Castel, 'The Extraterritorial Effects of Antitrust Laws' (1983) 179 Recueil des Cours 9〕 The protection of international competition is governed by international competition agreements. In 1945, during the negotiations preceding the adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, limited international competition obligations were proposed within the ''Charter for an International Trade Organisation''. These obligations were not included in GATT, but in 1994, with the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of GATT Multilateral Negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created. The ''Agreement Establishing the WTO'' included a range of limited provisions on various cross-border competition issues on a sector specific basis. ==Principle== Competition law, or antitrust law, has three main elements: * prohibiting agreements or practices that restrict free trading and competition between business. This includes in particular the repression of free trade caused by cartels. * banning abusive behavior by a firm dominating a market, or anti-competitive practices that tend to lead to such a dominant position. Practices controlled in this way may include predatory pricing, tying, price gouging, refusal to deal, and many others. * supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations, including some joint ventures. Transactions that are considered to threaten the competitive process can be prohibited altogether, or approved subject to "remedies" such as an obligation to divest part of the merged business or to offer licenses or access to facilities to enable other businesses to continue competing. Substance and practice of competition law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Protecting the interests of consumers (consumer welfare) and ensuring that entrepreneurs have an opportunity to compete in the market economy are often treated as important objectives. Competition law is closely connected with law on deregulation of access to markets, state aids and subsidies, the privatization of state owned assets and the establishment of independent sector regulators, among other market-oriented supply-side policies. In recent decades, competition law has been viewed as a way to provide better public services.〔see, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (Regulation and Sectors ) page.〕 Robert Bork argued that competition laws can produce adverse effects when they reduce competition by protecting inefficient competitors and when costs of legal intervention are greater than benefits for the consumers.〔Bork (1993), p. 56〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Competition law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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