Les principes de libération et de libéralisation :. De l'ouverture des marchés à l'adaptation aux conditions de la concurrence globale. L'exemple de la CE

PRINCIPLES OF LIBERATION AND LIBERALISATION : FROM OPENING MARKETS TO ADAPTING TO THE CONDITIONS OF GLOBAL COMPETITION. THE EXAMPLE OF THE EU The paper is concerned with the process and means of opening territorial markets to global competition, and with the effects such opening has on the internal organisation of national markets. To this effect it first discusses the principles of opening up markets, such as free trade rules, the recognition of foreign product standards (principle of the country of origin), the suppression of extra costs on imports, and the principle of mutuality of market opening as way to have foreign competition accepted internally. Finally, always taking the EU as an example, the paper stresses the need for generally accepted mechanisms of dispute settlement. In a second part the paper examines the effects of market opening on the internal organisation of national markets, in particular the problems of reverse discrimination of national products, and possible reactions : admission of limited exceptions to free trade so as to save national sovereignty, authority and interests, and harmonisation, either de facto by regulatory competition and the ensuing adaptation of national rules, or de iure by virtue of supranational legislation. By way of conclusion the author suggests some methods of containing the development of national divergences in market regulation.