Brussels, 02/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a speech delivered on 29 March in Washington, Competition Commissioner Mario Monti once more insisted on the need to develop international dialogue between competition authorities. In an increasingly globalised economy, it is essential to reach maximum convergence and coordination for respecting competition and preventing competition distortion, he said.
Bilateral cooperation between European and American services is, in this light, essential and these ties need cultivating and strengthening. The Commissioner also turned to the creation of a world competition forum which, other than Europe and the United States, would include all competition authorities, competition affairs exceeding, in the current economic dynamic, national borders. Aware of the impossibility of establishing in-depth relations with all the relevant authorities, that would involve too greater cost and the setting up of complex procedures, Monti did however stress the need to pursue the dialogue and involve developing countries in the process, efforts at liberalising their economies having to go hand in hand with effective legislation and competition policies.
Mr. Monti therefore defended the idea of a "world competition forum", that would have the following characteristics: a) it must provide a concrete dimension to theoretical problems and broach the "experience" of the participants; b) it has not to be a new institution, that would circumvent and weaken existing institutions such as the OECD or the WTO; c) participants must be open to debate; d) the forum would have to deepen the dialogue with developing countries whose competition policies are only just beginning; e) the launch of the forum, scheduled for the autumn, will have to be official and the outcome of preliminary meetings; f) the forum would function around a hard core responsible for monitoring the system. Turning to how the forum would work, Monti stipulated that it would be a question of offering an open body to all the players concerned, enabling them to engage in constructive dialogue in view of attaining as much convergence on important matters. The forum should also develop a common "culture of competition" allowing to find a solution to the specific problems of developing countries and countries in economic transition. The themes broached will be many and the exchanges should be non-discriminatory and transparent, the timing of the works will be annual, and around such an annual conferences will be organised peripheral meetings leading to the publication of reports and accounts. It will also be possible to organise special conference, if the situation requires it.
During his visit to Washington, Commissioner Monti also announced that his services would soon be finished with the assessment of the 9,000 pages forming the dossier produced on the American software giant, Microsoft, and that a decision would soon be taken.