Standards play a critical role in addressing market failures and enhancing competition by reducing information asymmetries, lowering transaction costs, enabling interoperability, and facilitating market entry. However, their impact on competition can be both procompetitive and anticompetitive, with the net effect being specific to each case depending on their design, the standard-setting process, and implementation. The key is to ensure the right balance between the procompetitive and anticompetitive effects, and to eliminate unnecessary or unintentional anticompetitive restrictions or effects. This study explains how different types of standards influence competition in varying ways, posing different levels of risk. It also provides measures to mitigate these risks. Policy makers can promote procompetitive standards through regulatory impact assessments, inclusive and transparent standard-setting, effective market surveillance, and alignment with competition law, including clear guidance on standard-essential patents and anticollusion safeguards in standards development organizations.
DETAILS
-
Standards and Competition
-
10/14/2025 04:34:00 PM
-
10/14/2025 04:35:00 PM
-
Sara Nyman ,Tania Begazo
-
Working Paper (WP)
-
English
-
World
-
World Development Report 2025
-
Standards play a critical role in addressing market failures and enhancing competition by reducing information asymmetries, lowering transaction costs, enabling interoperability, and facilitating market entry. However, their impact on competition can be both procompetitive and anticompetitive, with the net effect being specific to each case depending on their design, the standard-setting process, and implementation. The key is to ensure the right balance between the procompetitive and anticompetitive effects, and to eliminate unnecessary or unintentional anticompetitive restrictions or effects. This study explains how different types of standards influence competition in varying ways, posing different levels of risk. It also provides measures to mitigate these risks. Policy makers can promote procompetitive standards through regulatory impact assessments, inclusive and transparent standard-setting, effective market surveillance, and alignment with competition law, including clear guidance on standard-essential patents and anticollusion safeguards in standards development organizations.
MAIN DOCUMENT
Download statistics
-
Total Downloads** :
**Download statistics measured since January 1st, 2014.