Private and Governmental Barriers Affecting International Market Contestability: Current and Prospective Remedies

Several interesting developments indicate that world attention is increasingly focusing on a novel category of trade barriers: non-tariff and non-border barriers. Following the Uruguay Round (the eighth round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT ), scholars and officers of international organizations have expressed hope that international market contestability will become a major goal of future international policy negotiations. Their studies have focused on the links between trade policy and competition policy, and have concluded that anticompetitive business practices are a potent barrier to international market contestability and might cause a loss of confidence in the free trade ideal. The present work is dedicated to analyzing and developing a thorough understanding of the nature of private and hybrid private-public business practices affecting market access and contestability. The conclusions of the present work will show how the WTO panel decision in the film and paper case might affect the current international efforts to bring the issues of restrictive business practices within the competence of the WTO