Antitrust Goals, Procedures, and Policies in the U.S. and the EU

• DOI: 10.1177/0003603X17708360
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017

Article

Antitrust Goals, Procedures,

and Policies in the U.S. and

the EU

Daniel J. Gifford* and Robert T. Kudrle**

Abstract

The U.S. and the EU have somewhat similar antitrust policies, and both have been globally influential.

This article, however, argues that the differences between the two systems of antitrust are deep and

fundamental and that convergence is therefore sharply constrained. We explore those contentions by

examining differing goals, differing procedures, and differing policies.

Keywords

efficiency, consumer welfare, total welfare, dominance

Competition policies of some kind have now been adopted by more 115 countries. This is a remarkable

and very recent development. Prior to World War II, only the United States and Canada had compe-

tition laws. Competition laws were given a major boost when the then European Economic Commu-

nity included competition provisions in its founding document, the Treaty of Rome, in 1957.

1

In the

years since, the U.S. and the EU have both been influential in the diffusion of these policies and the

promise of well-functioning market economies with which they are associated. Yet these huge

economic blocks have antitrust policies that differ substantially from each other in goals, in

procedures, and in policies. This essay outlines some of those differences, and the essays that

follow in this symposium in The Antitrust Bulletin illustrate several major differences, as well as

similarities, in great detail.

Different Goals

Antitrust laws—like all laws in a democratic society—should further the society’s welfare. The

ongoing debate about the purposes of American antitrust laws—whether they should seek to foster

*University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN, USA

**Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Law School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Corresponding Author:

DanielJ. Gifford, Universityof Minnesota LawSchool, Walter F. MondaleHall, 229 19th AvenueSouth, Minneapolis,MN 55455, USA.

Email: giffo001@umn.edu

1. Treaty of Rome Establishing the European Economic Community, Mar. 25, 1957, 298 U.N.T.S. 11.

The Antitrust Bulletin

2017, Vol. 62(2) 239-253

ªThe Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0003603X17708360

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