For many years, the OECD Competition Committee has focused on strengthening competition law enforcement against cartels, which increase prices at the expense of consumers. Important progress has been made as national laws are strengthened and more competition authorities crack down on cartels. Several reports document the Committee’s work in this area as well as major developments in national anti-cartel enforcement. Thanks to these efforts, prohibition against hard core cartels is now considered to be an indispensable part of a domestic competition law.

The OECD has played a leading role in contributing to a greater understanding of hard core cartels. The 1998 Recommendation on Hard Core Cartels focused the efforts of the international enforcement community on developing more effective tools to prevent, detect, and punish cartels. The 2005 Best Practices for the Formal Exchange of Information Between Competition Authorities in Hard Core Investigations identified safeguards that member countries should consider applying when they authorise competition authorities to exchange confidential information in cartel investigations.

The OECD Competition Committee has also issued several Reports about the progress made in the fight against cartels, the development of more effective enforcement tools and means to more effectively cooperate. These include: Hard Core Cartels: Third Report on the Implementation of the 1998 Recommendation(2005); Hard Core Cartels - Recent progress and challenges ahead (2003); Report on the Nature and Impact of Hard Core Cartels and Sanctions against Cartels under National Competition Laws (2002); Leniency Programmes to Fight Hard Core Cartels (2001) and Positive Comity (1999).

Much of the OECD Competition Committee's work is available in roundtable reports which include all the written contributions from members and non-members alike and analytical background notes by the OECD Competition Division. Issues addressed in recent roundtables include Competition in Bidding Markets, Prosecuting Cartels Without Direct Evidence of Agreement, Cartels: Sanctions Against Individuals, Competition and Public Procurement and Private Enforcement.

For further information on the OECD work on competition law enforcement, please contact Antonio Capobianco.