Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Abstract

This essay looks at the virtues and costs of the EC requirement that the CEECs national laws "approximate" EC law. It looks at the significance of approximation both in the specific European context and in the context of the dialogue on harmonization and convergence of the law of trading partners of the world. In this essay I describe the Europe Agreements and the CEECs obligations thereunder to "approximate" EC law. I then briefly describe the competition laws of the four nations directly to the east of Germany and Austria, all thought to be serious candidates for admission to the EU soon after the turn of the century-Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (hereafter called the Visegrad countries, so named after a summit conference in that Hungarian city). I then consider how closely the competition laws of these nations have converged with the EC competition laws. Next, I discuss the wisdom of forced convergence, and finally I comment on the benefits conferred by EC oversight and pressure for competition policy.

First Page

351

Volume

23

Publication Date

1997

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