Competition Law

This report treats the law of a single system, the antitrust law of the United States. To that extent it follows the traditional form of national reports submitted to international comparative law congresses. Yet it also diverges from the typical format. It is explicitly comparative, because the assignment is to view national competition law from the perspective of "harmonization," and this requires a comparative approach not only ion the general report, but also in the national reports. The report thus focuses on the law of the U.S. as it relates to this harmonization process. The scope, structure, and methods of the report reflect this perspective.

The report differs from other national reports prepared for this topic, because it assumes basic knowledge of the economic and political context within which the U.S. antitrust laws operate. In reporting on the operations of a competitive law system, it is undoubtedly important to include basic information about its economy and government where this information is not widely known. In the case of the United States, however, such information is common knowledge, and thus I will not include it here.