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OECD Asia-Pacific Competition Law Enforcement Trends identifies competition enforcement trends based on analysis of data from 16 OECD and non-OECD jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region from 2015 to 2020. It presents key elements of their institutional approaches to competition enforcement, and a unique analysis of their resources and enforcement activities.

The report also includes general competition statistics while looking more closely at the different types of existing merger control regimes, including merger control activity and the use of economics in merger review. Finally, it focuses on the use of economics as an increasingly important analytical framework for competition cases, and outlines to what extent and how this framework has been implemented in Asia-Pacific.

The report was published on 13 December 2021 during the the 6th Meeting of High-Level Representatives of Asia-Pacific Competition Authorities. 

It complements and draws from Competition Law in Asia-Pacific: A Guide to Selected Jurisdictions and OECD Competition Trends, an annual flagship publication that presents unique insights into global competition enforcement trends based on data from over 70 jurisdictions.

KEY FINDINGS

OECD Asia-Pacific Competition Law Enforcement Trends shows that the region has witnessed a remarkable increase in the importance of competition. Several jurisdictions have established competition policy regimes, and others have implemented substantial changes to their existing systems – for instance, expanding the scope of their laws and boosting competition enforcement powers.

Competition frameworks that have undergone such changes have benefited greatly from the best practices and vast experience of the OECD, and in particular, from the OECD members in the region (Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand) and the OECD-Korea Policy Centre Competition Programme, which has held events for more than 3,000 participants in the region since 2004.

Finally the report also provides a timely examination of the response among competition regulators to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that competition authorities in Asia-Pacific are playing a key role in helping governments to bring about a rapid, sustained economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Most competition agencies have reported involvement with the design or development of economic recovery packages related to Covid-19, and their active responses to the crisis have included a range of measures to tackle issues arising from it.  

LINKS AND DOCUMENTS

OECD Competition Trends

Competition Law in Asia-Pacific: A Guide to Selected Jurisdictions 

Fostering Competition in ASEAN

Competition policy responses to COVID-19

OECD/Korea Policy Centre, Competition Programme

More OECD work on competition

LIST OF 16 JURISDICTIONS IN THE REPORT 

If you have questions, comments or would like further information regarding the OECD's competition policy work in the Asia-Pacific region, including this meeting, please contact [email protected].