# How do other rich countries' antitrust laws compare to America's?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 25, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273 "2010-04-25T03:29:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273/1 "2010-04-25T03:29:45Z")

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Since Teddy Roosevelt and Taft, American government has taken an active role in busting monopolies and creating competition where competition has not arisen under the free market. Some major corporate giants have been affected, notably AT&T and MicroSoft. Do the world’s other rich countries do the same thing, and if so, are their laws tougher or less tough than America’s?

I hear occasionally of the _zaibatsu_ in Japan or the _chaebol_ in South Korea, but I’m not sure if these are monopoly trusts in the old 19th-century American sense, or just very large companies that still have effective competition.

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**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273/2 "2010-04-27T20:38:56Z")

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Apparently antitrust laws are pretty strong in the EU.  
[Europe Sets Antitrust Sights on Google Search](http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Europe-Sets-Antitrust-Sights-on-Google-Search-69419.html?wlc=1272400543)

[Letters to The Economist: Antitrust policy in Europe](http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15660655) Among others:

> [@](#):
>
> SIR – It was heartwarming to see you take pity on monopolistic companies, barely able to defend themselves when hounded by ruthless competition regulators. It seems that lobbyists only start to worry about European antitrust procedures the very moment the commission hands down tougher fines to companies for violating the rules of free competition. This probably tells us more about the chicken-feed fines of the past than about reform.
> 
> The much more intriguing question is why the commission has generally fared so well in taking on powerful companies. So many other institutions—parliaments, banking regulators, fraud investigators, environmental protection agencies—constantly fail to do so. The institutional design of European Union competition law seems to have been thought out pretty well.
> 
> Rupprecht Podszun  
> Research fellow  
> Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law  
> Munich

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**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273/3 "2010-04-29T22:49:39Z")

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Thanks, I’d about given up on getting any answers.

The link to the Economist mentions that Intel was targeted by antitrust prosecutors in Japan and South Korea too, which suggests that the EU is not the only one with antitrust laws at least as vigilant as the US. (Apparently the US has also targeted Intel for antitrust violations).

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**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273/4 "2010-04-30T12:02:18Z")

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The word ‘trusts’ is not used here, at least not in this context.  
The Monopolies & Mergers Commission currently investigates such cartels and may order them broken up. Various industry regulators can also investigate; Oftel has several times investigated British Telecom’s monopolistic position and may yet require it to be broken up.

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**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-other-rich-countries-antitrust-laws-compare-to-americas/537273/5 "2010-04-30T16:11:23Z")

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> [@Mk\_VII](#):
>
> The word ‘trusts’ is not used here, at least not in this context.  
> The Monopolies & Mergers Commission currently investigates such cartels and may order them broken up. Various industry regulators can also investigate; Oftel has several times investigated British Telecom’s monopolistic position and may yet require it to be broken up.

Oftel? , that organization disappeared a years ago. I think you mean Ofcom