Re: Antitrust Bill of Rights

[rlande@UBmail.ubalt.edu]

  As it happens, I recently drafted my own version of the "ideal" antitrust 
  law.  This law is intended for both developed and transition economies.
  
  My co-author and I believe that antitrust laws should prevent restraints
  that artificially  restrict the choices that the free market otherwise
  would offer to consumers.  Consumer protection laws, by contrast, should
  ensure that consumers can make a free and informed choice among the
  options that the free market provides to them.
  
  We published a detailed version of this approach, with supporting
  arguments, in the latest issue of the Antitrust  Law Journal, and at the
  end include a model statute that is built around our loadstar of consumer
  choice.  We believe that it is a better approach than the existing US
  (Sherman Act or FTC Act) or EC approaches. 
  
  I would be delighted to send you - or anyone else reading this message - a
  copy of our article.  Would you mind sending me your mailing address?  We
  could perhaps modify, exerpt, or reprint our article for your journal if,
  after reading our article, you believe this would be appropriate.
  
  Bob Lande
  
   On Sun, 26 Oct 1997, charles mueller wrote:
  
  >         I raised earlier the question of how many of the world's 200
  > countries now have antimonopoly laws (and public agencies to enforce them)
  > and am told that the total is currently more than 60, a number that's
  > growing rapidly.  This suggests an interesting query:  What would be the
  > ideal or "model" antitrust law for all these nations, e.g., one that would
  > best maximize their per-capita GDPs?  Would it be different for the 3rd
  > world countries than for the richest?  What principles should be reflected
  > in that model worldwide antimonopoly law?
  > 
  >         My journal, the ANTITRUST LAW & ECONOMICS REVIEW, would love to
  > publish a variety of such model antitrust laws, along with their supporting
  > arguments.  To this end, I've drafted first what I call an "Antitrust Bill
  > of Rights,"
  > a set of guiding antimonopoly principles that I would like to see enshrined
  > in the law and policy of each of those 200 countries--principles that, I'm
  > confident, would splendidly enrich them.  Others will of course have
  > alternative views here and I would especially like to hear from those who
  > would like to offer theirs to the readers of my journal.  (For my address,
  > see my Web site, below.)  
  > 
  >         I anticipate that my own "Antitrust Bill of Rights" will ultimately
  > number at least 12.  I offer here #1 and invite comment.  (Now donning, as
  > the saying goes, flame-retardant gear.)
  > 
  >                                               ****************************
  > 
  > 
  >                                                        ANTITRUST
  >                                                    BILL OF RIGHTS
  > 
  >         1.  The founding and operation of privately-owned economic
  > enterprises--and free and fair competition among them--is the ultimate
  > foundation of prosperity in every civilized society.  Accordingly, it is the
  > policy of this Nation to encourage, preserve, and protect the right of every
  > Citizen to create, own, and operate such an enterprise and to compete on
  > fair and equal terms with all others.
  > 
  > 
  >                                                ****************************
  > 
  >         Charles Mueller, Editor
  >         ANTITRUST LAW & ECONOMICS REVIEW
  >         http://webpages.metrolink.net/~cmueller
  > 
  > 
  >