Procedural fairness and its two component parts, transparency and due process, are paramount to a well-functioning antitrust/competition law system. Due process and transparency help to shape not merely the process but the substance of antitrust investigations and cases. They are bedrocks of the functioning of the legal system and offer legitimacy to given competition authority. Strong procedural fairness safeguards forces parties to debate only the merits of decisions and not the procedural inputs of how decisions were derived due to failures in due process or a lack of transparency. Procedural fairness concerns in antitrust have captured headlines for global mergers, cartel investigations and abuse of dominance cases. Across jurisdictions, parties involved in antitrust matters have raised concerns regarding procedural fairness issues in antitrust. These concerns have grown over time as competition authority emphasis has been placed on global mergers and conduct investigations. Additionally, issues of procedural fairness have remained central in the policy community as practitioner and academic conferences raise the importance of such issues in the competition law context. The lack of effective procedural fairness impairs effective competition law and policy. It also makes it more difficult for businesses to plan effectively because of the risk involved in antitrust enforcement that is based not on the particular conduct in question but on the uncertainty due to uneven enforcement. The deleterious effects are more far reaching than any individually badly decided case as lack of procedural fairness threatens the legitimacy of the entire competition policy system. This hurts consumer welfare. This chapter explores the nature of procedural fairness issues in global antitrust. It explains the justifications for procedural fairness and the drivers for why such concerns have become significant in antitrust. Then, the chapter explores global antitrust institutions to understand if and how global best practices are possible for antitrust procedural fairness. The chapter concludes with advocacy of an approach that combines elements of hard law through free trade agreements and soft law through the OECD and ICN and through an informal "coalition of the willing" in ways that are complementary.

This book is a comparative reference on procedural fairness in global antitrust. It focuses on procedure at each stage of antitrust enforcement and considers how a lack of procedural fairness impairs competition law and policy, the benefits of embracing it, the case for establishing global best practices, and how this might be achieved.

The antitrust world is now globalized and interconnected, requiring ever-increasing awareness as to how different agencies operate. The need to promote convergence on substantive doctrines has received, and will continue to receive, considerable attention. What is less appreciated is the need to focus on institutional design and practice, particularly as to the promotion of transparency and procedural fairness in the conduct of antitrust investigations. This Essay makes the case for such a focus, explaining how one of the healthy aspects of a multijurisdictional world is that sister agencies can challenge one another and model means of improving our institutional practices. In so doing, it explains that such learning should continue at the same time as international authorities endeavor to converge on best practices for ensuring procedural fairness during the course of an antitrust inquiry.

How substantive competition rules are enforced plays a crucial role in achieving their goals. This thoughtful book examines procedural issues that have arisen from the increased enforcement of competition law worldwide.

This book presents a comprehensive assessment of anti-cartel enforcement and investigative procedures in India. It makes a case for enhanced sanctions for cartel conduct in India. Cartels are considered the most pernicious violation of competition law, referred to as "cancer to the free market economy". While competition laws in most jurisdictions prescribe strict sanctions against cartels, Indian Competition Law provides only civil penalties, with an upper ceiling for proven cartel conduct. This volume assesses the effectiveness of anti-cartel enforcement of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). It explores investigative procedures of the CCI through multiple qualitative and quantitative indicators and the extent to which enforcement of anti-cartel laws in India has led to cartel deterrence. Further, it also examines the priorities and processes of the CCI in terms of anti-cartel enforcement, their sanctioning mechanism and their dependency of computation of penalty on varied factors. Featuring detailed case law studies and engaging data, this book will be an essential read for students and researchers of law and legal studies, competition law, corporate law, intellectual property law, and business law.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.