International Competition Cooperation: Are There Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen?

International cooperation on competition issues among agencies and governments can be great for consumers and companies alike, avoiding a host of inefficient and potentially conflicting outcomes.  But while cooperation in competition enforcement has a lengthy and venerated history, the prospect of such cooperation in competition policy design and legal implementation is a newer concept that presents a host of new risks and questions that are worth examining.  One such risk is an overlapping web of not-quite-aligned approaches by competition cooks that each add their local flavors to the stew and create the very pitfalls that international cooperation is supposed to avoid, i.e. inefficiency and conflict.  What can we learn from our collective experience with international cooperation, and where are the potential pitfalls on the road ahead?

By John M. Taladay & Christine Ryu-Naya^[1]

Earlier this year, the Digital Ministers of the G7 countries issued a declaration affirming their commitment to cooperation and coordination in support of effective policy instruments for use in digital markets.^[2] In the midst of ongoing and (at times) heated debate around the proper role of ex ante regulation in policing tech platforms, the declaration would seem to be a welcome relief: after all, how controversial can a plan to “further deepen cooperation” and “improve mutual understanding” be? It’s not exactly a “headline grabbing” statement.