Well-designed competition law, effective law enforcement and competition-based economic reform promote increased efficiency, economic growth and employment for the benefit of all. OECD work on competition law and policy actively encourages decision-makers in government to tackle anti-competitive practices and regulations and promotes market-oriented reform throughout the world.

More about Competition

Permanent URL: www.oecd.org/competition

What's new

Resale Price Maintenance

06-Oct-2009

The term "resale price maintenance" refers to a practice in which suppliers and resellers come to an understanding that places restrictions on the prices resellers may charge. There are several types of such agreements, the most common involves a supplier agreeing with retailers not to charge less than a certain price for the supplier's product.  RPM may harm consumers by restricting intrabrand price competition, but RPM may benefit consumers by promoting interbrand competition. Despite these mixed effects, most OECD countries treat RPM as a per se violation of their competition laws.

Refusals to Deal

08-Sep-2009

The term “refusal to deal” describes a situation in which one firm refuses to sell to another firm, or is willing to sell only at a price that is considered “too high” or only under conditions that are deemed unacceptable. RTDs may harm competition by preventing entry that would have eroded or eliminated the dominant firm’s position.  They may also restrict competition in markets where the dominant firm’s product is an input or a complement.

The challenge of restoring French competitiveness

11-Aug-2009

The lack of competitiveness is more often a symptom than the cause of one or more underlying economic weaknesses. What is called for, then, is a comprehensive policy response that addresses the sources of the competitiveness problem, rather than targeted interventions designed directly to remedy the growing trade deficit.

Competition and financial markets: issues in the current financial crisis

23-Jun-2009

The OECD’s Competition Committee debated competition issues in the current
financial crisis on 17-18 February 2009. This document presents two key
documents from that event: an Executive Summary which draws on the debate and
the written materials and the Background Paper for the discussion. The full set of
materials from the event, including national contributions and a summary of the
discussion, can be found at www.oecd.org/competition/roundtables.

The OECD Competition Committee adopts Guidelines for Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement

12-Mar-2009

The Guidelines, which draw on the experience of more than 30 countries, provide the most comprehensive strategy available today for designing tenders to hinder bid rigging conspiracies and for uncovering existing conspiracies. They can be applied in a decentralised manner across government at both national and local levels and are simple enough for use by officials with no specialised economics or competition policy training. 

OECD Journal of Competition Law and Policy, Volume 9/No.3

02-Mar-2009

This Issue includes: Cartels - Sanctions against individuals; Prosecuting cartels without direct evidence of agreement; Korea - Updated report on competition law and institutions

OECD’s Gurría calls for strong competition policy to speed recovery

19-Feb-2009

Governments must resist protectionism and keep markets open to competition as they seek ways to get their economies going again, according to OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

8th meeting of the Global Forum on Competition, 19-20 February 2009 - Paris, France

from 19-Feb-2009 to 20-Feb-2009

The 8th OECD Global Forum on Competition brought together senior competition officials from around the world to discuss the importance of competition and the role of competition authorities in the global economy, including: potential conflicts between competition policy and national champions; the impact of the informal economy on competitive markets; the balance between the public interest and competition policy in times of economic crisis; and how young competition agencies can best learn from more experienced colleagues.

See more news and events… Top of page

Global Forum on Competition

Resisting protectionism and keeping markets open to competition

Video of the press conference
More about the Global Forum

Focus

Providing insight into the thinking of competition law enforcers while focusing on the practical application of competition law and policy

OECD Journal of Competition Law and Policy

Subscribe to the competition RSS feed

A free and easy way to receive the latest news