Management of Networks Between the Competition Authorities in the EC AND THE US: Different Polities, Different Designs

"Multi-jurisdictional polities consist of multiple sovereign units with potentially distinct cultures, political interests and administrative traditions. This diversity stands both as an advantage and a disadvantage for policy enforcement. On the one hand realisation of this diversity contributes to the innovation in policy enforcement, but on the other hand it causes complexities in terms of consistency and uniformity. The puzzle becomes even more complicated when it comes to antitrust policy as, due to the ever-expanding integration between economies, most violations affect multiple markets and therefore engender action by multiple authorities. As a result, management of complex relations between multiple authorities establishes itself as the ultimate challenge for multi-jurisdictional antitrust enforcement in modern societies. In order to reach the ideal, such management should entertain—to a certain extent—conflicting goals of diversity and consistency at the same time."