© 1999 by Oxford University Press
A long and winding road: trips and the evolution of an international competition framework
Economics and International Affairs Branch, Competition Bureau of Canada, Canada
This article is based on a contribution prepared for the WTO Symposium on Competition Policy and the Multilateral Trading System on the significance of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) as a starting point for negotiations for a possible international competition framework within the WTO. This article includes the parts of the author's speech focusing on similarities between the TRIPS Agreement and issues arising under the discussions in the WTO concerning competition policy. Considering the fact that in both cases the action of private parties is the subject of regulation, the idea of drawing a parallel between certain principles of TRIPS and a possible framework agreement on competition seems particularly interesting.