RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/WGTCP/W/25
11July1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2910)
Original: English Working Group ontheInteraction
between Trade andCompetition Policy
COMMUNICATION FROM JAPAN
1. Thisdelegation appreciates thattheWorking Group mandated byMinisters atSingapore has
formally started today. Wewould alsoliketoexpress ourappreciation totheChairman forhisstrenuous
efforts togiveastructure tothisWGandtoproduce abibliography aswellastothose delegations
andSecretariats ofinternational organizations concerned thathave made contributions bytheir
submissions.
2. Taking thisopportunity, Iwould liketobriefly explain Japan'sintention initsNational
Submission, which hasalready beencirculated asWT/WGTCP/W/4.
3. Inorder tomeetthemandate oftheSingapore Ministerial Declaration, which is"tostudy issues
raised byMembers relating totheinteraction between tradeandcompetition policy, ...",thisWGneeds
todealwiththeinteractionbetweentradepolicyaspectsaswellascompetitionpolicyaspectsbyanalysing
boththeimpact oftrademeasures oncompetition andthatofcompetition policy ontrade. Inourview,
thisisabroadly shared perception among mostdelegations. Withaviewtoconducting acomprehensive
analysis ontheinteraction between thetwoaspects, thisWGshould address issues related notonly
topractices ofprivate enterprises butalsotogovernmental measures which could haveasignificant
influence oncompetitive conditions. Those governmental measures include trademeasures attheborder
aswellasother related regulatory measures inthedomestic market.
4. InJapan'spaper, wesuggested an"activity-based categorization", consisting of"stocktaking
ofexisting rules related totrade andcompetition policy", "economic analysis" and"case studies".
Weconsider thatthiswayoforganizing ourwork would letuseffectively address theissue ofthe
interaction between trade andcompetition policy designed toenable theWGtohaveamore balanced
discussion between theimpact oftrade measures oncompetition conditions andthatofcompetition
policy ontrade without executing unnecessary confrontation arising from thewellknown difference
ofpositions.
5. There havebeenproposals toformulate thediscussion agenda onthebasis ofthedifferent
substantive items. Particularly, theChairman 'sideaoforganizing workcovers mostofthemajor items
suggested bydelegations, andtherefore canbeseenasabalanced checklist. Wewould, however,
suggestthattradepolicyaspectsandcompetitionpolicyaspectsbediscussedtogether,notinacompletely
separate setting, inorder toestablish acomprehensive analysis oftheinterrelationship between the
two.
6. Finally, Japan would liketoremind allthedelegates onceagain thatwebelieve itwasthe
intention oftheSMC nottopreclude anyissues raised bytheMembers. Thisdelegation isaware that
several delegations attach importance tothedevelopment dimension onthistopic, andagree thatthis
aspect should befullytaken intoaccount.