Competition policy chapter summary
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Competition is good for both consumers and businesses. For consumers, competition results in a wider choice of products and services at higher quality and lower prices. A competitive business environment strengthens businesses’ ability to succeed in global markets by ensuring that the benefits of trade liberalization are not offset by anti-competitive business conduct.
The competition policy chapter furthers the parties’ goal of creating a fair, transparent, predictable and competitive business environment that ultimately benefits consumers. The chapter updates measures targeting anti-competitive business practices and includes new measures to protect consumers from fraudulent and deceptive commercial activities. It also introduces obligations for procedural fairness that ensure competition authorities maintain transparent procedures and respect the rights of defendants in competition-enforcement proceedings. The chapter supports the long-standing co-operative relationship among the competition authorities in North America.
Note that this summary describes the competition policy chapter, which includes commitments addressing anti-competitive business practices. A different chapter, known as the competitiveness chapter, formalizes trilateral cooperation to help advance North American competitiveness.
Technical summary of negotiated outcomes: Competition policy
- Includes commitments to ensure that parties will:
- maintain measures that proscribe anti-competitive business conduct;
- enforce these measures in accordance with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination and procedural fairness; and
- co-operate on matters pertaining to cross-border anti-competitive business conduct.
- Includes detailed commitments on transparency and procedural fairness that are to be followed by the parties in the enforcement of their domestic competition legislation.
- Includes consumer-protection obligations pertaining to fraudulent and deceptive commercial activities.
- The chapter is not subject to dispute settlement under the Agreement, but includes a consultation mechanism to address matters that arise under the chapter.
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