A Comparative Study on the Legal Relationship between the Competition Authorities and Sector Regulators; from Conflict to Interaction

Competition rules apply to maintain market competition, and competition authorities are responsible for implementing competition laws and regulations and preventing the undertakings from anti-competitive practices; However, alongside Competition authorities, in certain areas, mainly when markets face monopoly or intense concentration, lawmakers set up sector regulators to monitor the monopolies. In some countries, regulatory bodies are partly in line with competition authorities, but in some legal systems, they perform differently and sometimes are in conflict; On occasions, sector regulators consider an obstacle to the implementation of competition laws. Examining the powers, duties, and objectives of sector regulators and competition authorities, and how they operate in different countries, presents a variety of situations from conflict to interaction. In this article, this issue has been studied in different legal systems using a comparative approach. Finally, the Iranian Legal system's viewpoint has been discussed, reviewing the latest developments in the laws and regulations and the most critical cases of dispute between the Competition Council and the regulatory sector (telecommunications, pharmacies, Bar Associations, and car pricing), using a descriptive-analytical method.