Global E-Commerce Regulation - Competition

COMPETITION

National or regional governments have also played a strong role in antitrust enforcement concerning Internet-related markets, as the U.S. case against Microsoft and the European Union's ruling against the proposed merger between Sprint and WorldCom demonstrated. The FTC also closely eyed the development of Web-based business-to-business trade exchanges, in which companies came to a central electronic market to trade supplies and finished goods. The FTC was concerned that such exchanges harbored the potential for the establishment of price-fixing schemes and illegal market barriers to outside competitors. The FTC supported the concept behind the exchanges, acknowledging their potential for lowering the costs of transactions, but worried that the potential for antitrust violations would impede fair competition.