Trends: The Past and the Present

Abstract

The review of the conduct of competition policy in Part II has been mainly concerned with the authorities’ treatment of business practices in the course of the last 10 to 20 years. Competition policy has been presented in static terms — as though it had sprung into existence, fully developed, in the course of the 1970s. In fact, the conduct of competition policy has developed over a period of over 40 years, and it is still developing. A review of the impact of policy must therefore take account of earlier developments and of current trends.