Competition Law & Cartels: An Asian Perspective

(a joint project with the Competition Commission of Singapore)
by Associate Professor Burton ONG

Competition law authorities around the world almost invariably make combating cartels an enforcement priority because such forms of collusive behaviour are unequivocally harmful to competition. Hard core cartel agreements typically involve one or more of the most anti-competitive forms of conduct - price-fixing, bid-rigging, market allocation and output restrictions - and frequently attract severe legal sanctions in most competition law jurisdictions. However, despite the general agreement among these jurisdictions that cartel activities should be treated unfavourably as a matter of legal principle, the specific features of each legal regime vary from country to country as each jurisdiction must implement laws that are suited to their respective political and economic circumstances.

This research project was co-funded by the CLB and the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS). It project sought to provide an Asian perspective on a range of legal issues related to anti-cartel laws across a selection of countries in Asia, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam and Singapore. The goal was to examine contemporary issues facing the competition law regimes in these countries, with their diverse political systems and market conditions, and to provide insights into the policy challenges faced by their competition authorities in the enforcement of their national anti-cartel laws.

A symposium was organised in March 2013 to bring together leading competition law scholars from 8 jurisdictions in Asia to NUS to present and discuss papers.

The publication was launched at the Faculty of 7 May 2015.

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