Competition law

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Competition law is the field of

anti-competitive conduct by companies.[1][2] Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement.[3] It is also known as antitrust law (or just antitrust[4]), anti-monopoly law,[1] and trade practices law; the act of pushing for antitrust measures or attacking monopolistic companies (known as trusts) is commonly known as trust busting.[5]

The history of competition law reaches back to the Roman Empire. The business practices of market traders, guilds and governments have always been subject to scrutiny, and sometimes severe sanctions. Since the 20th century, competition law has become global.[6] The two largest and most influential systems of competition regulation are United States antitrust law and European Union competition law. National and regional competition authorities across the world have formed international support and enforcement networks.

Modern competition law has historically evolved on a national level to promote and maintain fair competition in markets principally within the territorial boundaries of

nation-states. National competition law usually does not cover activity beyond territorial borders unless it has significant effects at nation-state level.[2] Countries may allow for extraterritorial jurisdiction in competition cases based on so-called "effects doctrine".[2][7] The protection of international competition is governed by international competition agreements. In 1945, during the negotiations preceding the adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, limited international competition obligations were proposed within the Charter for an International Trade Organisation. These obligations were not included in GATT, but in 1994, with the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of GATT multilateral negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was created. The Agreement Establishing the WTO included a range of limited provisions on various cross-border competition issues on a sector specific basis.[8] Competition law has failed to prevent monopolization of economic activity. "The global economy is dominated by a handful of powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). ... Only 737 top holders accumulate 80% of the control over the value of all ... network control is much more unequally distributed than wealth. In particular, the top ranked actors hold a control ten times bigger than what could be expected based on their wealth. ... Recent works have shown that when a financial network is very densely connected it is prone to systemic risk. Indeed, while in good times the network is seemingly robust, in bad times firms go into distress simultaneously. This knife-edge property was witnessed during the recent (2009) financial turmoil ..."[9]

Principle

Competition law, or antitrust law, has three main elements:

Substance and practice of competition law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Protecting the interests of consumers (

public services.[10] Robert Bork argued that competition laws can produce adverse effects when they reduce competition by protecting inefficient competitors and when costs of legal intervention are greater than benefits for the consumers.[11]

History

Roman legislation

An early example was enacted during the Roman Republic around 50 BC.[12] To protect the grain trade, heavy fines were imposed on anyone directly, deliberately, and insidiously stopping supply ships.[13] Under Diocletian in 301 A.D., an edict imposed the death penalty for anyone violating a tariff system, for example by buying up, concealing, or contriving the scarcity of everyday goods.[13] More legislation came under the constitution of Zeno of 483 A.D., which can be traced into Florentine municipal laws of 1322 and 1325.[14] This provided for confiscation of property and banishment for any trade combination or joint action of monopolies private or granted by the Emperor. Zeno rescinded all previously granted exclusive rights.[15] Justinian I subsequently introduced legislation to pay officials to manage state monopolies.[15]

Middle Ages

Legislation in England to control monopolies and restrictive practices was in force well before the

US antitrust law. Also under Edward III, the following statutory provision outlawed trade combination.[21]

... we have ordained and established, that no merchant or other shall make Confederacy, Conspiracy, Coin, Imagination, or Murmur, or Evil Device in any point that may turn to the Impeachment, Disturbance, Defeating or Decay of the said Staples, or of anything that to them pertaineth, or may pertain.

In continental Europe, competition principles developed in

Henry VIII of England
reintroduced tariffs for foodstuffs, designed to stabilize prices, in the face of fluctuations in supply from overseas. So the legislation read here that whereas,

it is very hard and difficult to put certain prices to any such things ... [it is necessary because] prices of such victuals be many times enhanced and raised by the Greedy Covetousness and Appetites of the Owners of such Victuals, by occasion of ingrossing and regrating the same, more than upon any reasonable or just ground or cause, to the great damage and impoverishing of the King's subjects.[22]

Around this time organizations representing various tradesmen and handicrafts people, known as guilds had been developing, and enjoyed many concessions and exemptions from the laws against monopolies. The privileges conferred were not abolished until the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.

Early competition law in Europe

Judge Coke in the 17th century thought that general restraints on trade were unreasonable.

The English common law of

statute law.[25]

Elizabeth I assured monopolies would not be abused in the early era of globalization.

Europe around the 16th century was changing quickly. The

King James I began to grant them again. In 1623 Parliament passed the Statute of Monopolies, which for the most part excluded patent rights from its prohibitions, as well as guilds. From King Charles I, through the civil war and to King Charles II, monopolies continued, especially useful for raising revenue.[28] Then in 1684, in East India Company v. Sandys it was decided that exclusive rights to trade only outside the realm were legitimate, on the grounds that only large and powerful concerns could trade in the conditions prevailing overseas.[29]

The development of early competition law in England and Europe progressed with the diffusion of writings such as

cartels to withstand huge pressures on prices and profits.[30]

Modern competition law

While the development of competition law stalled in Europe during the late 19th century, in 1889

Senator John Sherman who argued that the Act "does not announce a new principle of law, but applies old and well recognised principles of common law".[31]

United States antitrust

Senatorial Round House by Thomas Nast, 1886

The

whiskey.[31] Vast numbers of citizens became sufficiently aware and publicly concerned about how the trusts negatively impacted them that the Act became a priority for both major parties. A primary concern of this act is that competitive markets themselves should provide the primary regulation of prices, outputs, interests and profits. Instead, the Act outlawed anticompetitive practices, codifying the common law restraint of trade doctrine.[32] Rudolph Peritz has argued that competition law in the United States has evolved around two sometimes conflicting concepts of competition: first that of individual liberty, free of government intervention, and second a fair competitive environment free of excessive economic power. Since the enactment of the Sherman Act enforcement of competition law has been based on various economic theories adopted by Government.[33]

Section 1 of the Sherman Act declared illegal "every contract, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations." Section 2 prohibits

Clayton Act which specifically prohibited exclusive dealing agreements, particularly tying agreements and interlocking directorates, and mergers achieved by purchasing stock. From 1915 onwards the rule of reason analysis was frequently applied by courts to competition cases. However, the period was characterized by the lack of competition law enforcement. From 1936 to 1972 courts' application of antitrust law was dominated by the structure-conduct-performance paradigm of the Harvard School. From 1973 to 1991, the enforcement of antitrust law was based on efficiency explanations as the Chicago School became dominant, and through legal writings such as Judge Robert Bork's book The Antitrust Paradox. Since 1992 game theory has frequently been used in antitrust cases.[34]

With the Hart–Scott–Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, mergers and acquisitions came into additional scrutiny from U.S. regulators. Under the act, parties must make a pre-merger notification to the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission prior to the completion of a transaction. As of February 2, 2021, the FTC reduced the Hart-Scott-Rodino reporting threshold to $92 million in combined assets for the transaction.[35]

European Union law

Competition law gained new recognition in Europe in the inter-war years, with Germany enacting its first anti-cartel law in 1923 and Sweden and Norway adopting similar laws in 1925 and 1926 respectively. However, with the

plurilateral regional agreement and established the trans-European model of competition law. In 1957 competition rules were included in the Treaty of Rome, also known as the EC Treaty, which established the European Economic Community (EEC). The Treaty of Rome established the enactment of competition law as one of the main aims of the EEC through the "institution of a system ensuring that competition in the common market is not distorted". The two central provisions on EU competition law on companies were established in article 85, which prohibited anti-competitive agreements, subject to some exemptions, and article 86 prohibiting the abuse of dominant position. The treaty also established principles on competition law for member states, with article 90 covering public undertakings, and article 92 making provisions on state aid. Regulations on mergers were not included as member states could not establish consensus on the issue at the time.[37]

Today, the

charities, regional development objectives and in the event of a natural disaster.[citation needed
]

Leading ECJ cases on competition law include Consten & Grundig v Commission and United Brands v Commission.

India

India responded positively by opening up its economy by removing controls during the Economic liberalisation. In quest of increasing the efficiency of the nation's economy, the Government of India acknowledged the Liberalization Privatization Globalization era. As a result, Indian market faces competition from within and outside the country.[40] This led to the need of a strong legislation to dispense justice in commercial matters and the Competition Act, 2002 was passed. The history of competition law in India dates back to the 1960s when the first competition law, namely the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTP) was enacted in 1969. But after the economic reforms in 1991, this legislation was found to be obsolete in many aspects and as a result, a new competition law in the form of the Competition Act, 2002 was enacted in 2003. The Competition Commission of India, is the quasi judicial body established for enforcing provisions of the Competition Act.[41]

China

The Anti Monopoly Law of China came into effect in 2008. For years, it was enforced by three different branches of government, but since 2018 its enforcement has been the responsibility of the State Administration for Market Regulation. The People's Daily reported that the law had generated 11 billion RMB of penalties between 2008 and 2018.[42]

International expansion

By 2008 111 countries had enacted competition laws, which is more than 50 percent of countries with a population exceeding 80,000 people. 81 of the 111 countries had adopted their competition laws in the past 20 years, signaling the spread of competition law following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the expansion of the European Union.[43] Currently competition authorities of many states closely co-operate, on everyday basis, with foreign counterparts in their enforcement efforts, also in such key area as information / evidence sharing.[44]

In many of Asia's developing countries, including India, Competition law is considered a tool to stimulate economic growth. In Korea and Japan, the competition law prevents certain forms of conglomerates. In addition, competition law has promoted fairness in China and Indonesia as well as international integration in Vietnam.[1] Hong Kong's Competition Ordinance came into force in the year 2015.[45]

ASEAN member states

As part of the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community, the member states of the

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) pledged to enact competition laws and policies by the end of 2015.[46] Today, all ten member states have general competition legislation in place. While there remains differences between regimes (for example, over merger control notification rules, or leniency policies for whistle-blowers),[47] and it is unlikely that there will be a supranational competition authority for ASEAN (akin to the European Union),[48] there is a clear trend towards increase in infringement investigations or decisions on cartel enforcement.[49]

Enforcement

There is considerable controversy among WTO members, in green and blue, whether competition law should form part of the agreements.

Competition law is enforced at the national level through competition authorities, as well as private enforcement. The

United States Supreme Court explained:[50]

Every violation of the antitrust laws is a blow to the free-enterprise system envisaged by Congress. This system depends on strong competition for its health and vigor, and strong competition depends, in turn, on compliance with antitrust legislation. In enacting these laws, Congress had many means at its disposal to penalize violators. It could have, for example, required violators to compensate federal, state, and local governments for the estimated damage to their respective economies caused by the violations. But, this remedy was not selected. Instead, Congress chose to permit all persons to sue to recover three times their actual damages every time they were injured in their business or property by an antitrust violation.

In the

Green Paper on Damages actions for the breach of the EC antitrust rules,[53] which suggested ways of making private damages claims against cartels easier.[54]

Some EU Member States enforce their competition laws with criminal sanctions. As analysed by Whelan, these types of sanctions engender a number of significant theoretical, legal and practical challenges.[55]

Antitrust administration and legislation can be seen as a balance between:

  • guidelines which are clear and specific to the courts, regulators and business but leave little room for discretion that prevents the application of laws from resulting in unintended consequences.
  • guidelines which are broad, hence allowing administrators to sway between improving economic outcomes versus succumbing to political policies to redistribute wealth.[56]

Chapter 5 of the post-war

Doha round of trade talks for the World Trade Organization, discussion includes the prospect of competition law enforcement moving up to a global level. While it is incapable of enforcement itself, the newly established International Competition Network[59]
(ICN) is a way for national authorities to coordinate their own enforcement activities.

Theory

Classical perspective

Under the doctrine of laissez-faire, antitrust is seen as unnecessary as competition is viewed as a long-term dynamic process where firms compete against each other for market dominance. In some markets, a firm may successfully dominate, but it is because of superior skill or innovativeness. However, according to laissez-faire theorists, when it tries to raise prices to take advantage of its monopoly position it creates profitable opportunities for others to compete. A process of creative destruction begins which erodes the monopoly. Therefore, government should not try to break up monopoly but should allow the market to work.[60]

John Stuart Mill believed the restraint of trade doctrine was justified to preserve liberty and competition.

The classical perspective on competition was that certain agreements and business practice could be an unreasonable restraint on the

individual liberty
of tradespeople to carry on their livelihoods. Restraints were judged as permissible or not by courts as new cases appeared and in the light of changing business circumstances. Hence the courts found specific categories of agreement, specific clauses, to fall foul of their doctrine on economic fairness, and they did not contrive an overarching conception of market power. Earlier theorists like Adam Smith rejected any monopoly power on this basis.

A monopoly granted either to an individual or to a trading company has the same effect as a secret in trade or manufactures. The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly under-stocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much above the natural price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit, greatly above their natural rate.[61]

In The Wealth of Nations (1776) Adam Smith also pointed out the cartel problem, but did not advocate specific legal measures to combat them.

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary.[62]

By the latter half of the 19th century, it had become clear that large firms had become a fact of the market economy. John Stuart Mill's approach was laid down in his treatise On Liberty (1859).

Again, trade is a social act. Whoever undertakes to sell any description of goods to the public, does what affects the interest of other persons, and of society in general; and thus his conduct, in principle, comes within the jurisdiction of society... both the cheapness and the good quality of commodities are most effectually provided for by leaving the producers and sellers perfectly free, under the sole check of equal freedom to the buyers for supplying themselves elsewhere. This is the so-called doctrine of Free Trade, which rests on grounds different from, though equally solid with, the principle of individual liberty asserted in this Essay. Restrictions on trade, or on production for purposes of trade, are indeed restraints; and all restraint, qua restraint, is an evil...[63]

Neo-classical synthesis

Keynesian
macroeconomic intervention. He advocated the general success of the market but backed the American government's antitrust policies.

After Mill, there was a shift in economic theory, which emphasized a more precise and theoretical model of competition. A simple neo-classical model of free markets holds that production and distribution of goods and services in competitive free markets maximizes

frontier of its possible production.[64] Dynamic efficiency refers to the idea that business which constantly competes must research, create and innovate to keep its share of consumers. This traces to Austrian-American political scientist Joseph Schumpeter's notion that a "perennial gale of creative destruction" is ever sweeping through capitalist economies, driving enterprise at the market's mercy.[65] This led Schumpeter to argue that monopolies did not need to be broken up (as with Standard Oil
) because the next gale of economic innovation would do the same.

Contrasting with the allocatively, productively and dynamically efficient market model are monopolies, oligopolies, and cartels. When only one or a few firms exist in the market, and there is no credible threat of the entry of competing firms, prices rise above the competitive level, to either a monopolistic or oligopolistic equilibrium price. Production is also decreased, further decreasing

workable competition".[66][67] This follows the theory that if one cannot achieve the ideal, then go for the second best option[68]
by using the law to tame market operation where it can.

Chicago school

Robert Bork

A group of economists and lawyers, who are largely associated with the University of Chicago, advocate an approach to competition law guided by the proposition that some actions that were originally considered to be anticompetitive could actually promote competition.[69] The U.S. Supreme Court has used the Chicago school approach in several recent cases.[70] One view of the Chicago school approach to antitrust is found in United States Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner's books Antitrust Law[71] and Economic Analysis of Law.[72]

Philip Areeda, who favours more aggressive antitrust policy, in at least one Supreme Court case challenged Robert Bork's preference for non-intervention.[77]

Practice

Collusion and cartels

Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith was an early enemy of cartels.

Dominance and monopoly

The economist's depiction of deadweight loss to efficiency that monopolies cause

When firms hold large market shares, consumers risk paying higher prices and getting lower quality products than compared to competitive markets. However, the existence of a very high market share does not always mean consumers are paying excessive prices since the threat of new entrants to the market can restrain a high-market-share firm's price increases. Competition law does not make merely having a monopoly illegal, but rather abusing the power that a monopoly may confer, for instance through exclusionary practices.

First, it is necessary to determine whether a firm is dominant, or whether it behaves "to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, customers and ultimately of its consumer".

Commercial Solvents.[85] When it set up its own rival in the tuberculosis
drugs market, Commercial Solvents were forced to continue supplying a company named Zoja with the raw materials for the drug. Zoja was the only market competitor, so without the court forcing supply, all competition would have been eliminated.

Forms of abuse relating directly to pricing include price exploitation. It is difficult to prove at what point a dominant firm's prices become "exploitative" and this category of abuse is rarely found. In one case however, a French funeral service was found to have demanded exploitative prices, and this was justified on the basis that prices of funeral services outside the region could be compared.[86] A more tricky issue is predatory pricing. This is the practice of dropping prices of a product so much that one's smaller competitors cannot cover their costs and fall out of business. The Chicago school considers predatory pricing to be unlikely.[87] However, in France Telecom SA v. Commission[88] a broadband internet company was forced to pay $13.9 million for dropping its prices below its own production costs. It had "no interest in applying such prices except that of eliminating competitors"[89] and was being cross-subsidized to capture the lion's share of a booming market. One last category of pricing abuse is price discrimination.[90] An example of this could be a company offering rebates to industrial customers who export their sugar, but not to customers who are selling their goods in the same market.[91]

Example

According to The World Bank's "Republic of Armenia Accumulation, Competition, and Connectivity Global Competition" report which was published in 2013, the Global Competitiveness Index suggests that Armenia ranks lowest among ECA (Europe and Central Asia) countries in the effectiveness of anti-monopoly policy and the intensity of competition. This low ranking somehow explains the low employment and low incomes in Armenia.[92]

Mergers and acquisitions

A merger or acquisition involves, from a competition law perspective, the concentration of economic power in the hands of fewer than before.[93] This usually means that one firm buys out the shares of another. The reasons for oversight of economic concentrations by the state are the same as the reasons to restrict firms who abuse a position of dominance, only that regulation of mergers and acquisitions attempts to deal with the problem before it arises, ex ante prevention of market dominance.[94] In the United States merger regulation began under the Clayton Act, and in the European Union, under the Merger Regulation 139/2004 (known as the "ECMR").[95] Competition law requires that firms proposing to merge gain authorization from the relevant government authority. The theory behind mergers is that transaction costs can be reduced compared to operating on an open market through bilateral contracts.[96] Concentrations can increase economies of scale and scope. However often firms take advantage of their increase in market power, their increased market share and decreased number of competitors, which can adversely affect the deal that consumers get. Merger control is about predicting what the market might be like, not knowing and making a judgment. Hence the central provision under EU law asks whether a concentration would, if it went ahead, "significantly impede effective competition... in particular as a result of the creation or strengthening off a dominant position..."[97] and the corresponding provision under US antitrust states similarly,

No person shall acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share capital... of the assets of one or more persons engaged in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce, where... the effect of such acquisition, of such stocks or assets, or of the use of such stock by the voting or granting of proxies or otherwise, may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.[98]

What amounts to a substantial lessening of, or significant impediment to competition is usually answered through empirical study. The market shares of the merging companies can be assessed and added, although this kind of analysis only gives rise to presumptions, not conclusions.

Herfindahl-Hirschman Index is used to calculate the "density" of the market, or what concentration exists. Aside from the maths, it is important to consider the product in question and the rate of technical innovation in the market.[100] A further problem of collective dominance, or oligopoly through "economic links"[101] can arise, whereby the new market becomes more conducive to collusion. It is relevant how transparent a market is, because a more concentrated structure could mean firms can coordinate their behavior more easily, whether firms can deploy deterrents and whether firms are safe from a reaction by their competitors and consumers.[102] The entry of new firms to the market, and any barriers that they might encounter should be considered.[103] If firms are shown to be creating an uncompetitive concentration, in the US they can still argue that they create efficiencies enough to outweigh any detriment, and similar reference to "technical and economic progress" is mentioned in Art. 2 of the ECMR.[104] Another defense might be that a firm which is being taken over is about to fail or go insolvent, and taking it over leaves a no less competitive state than what would happen anyway.[105] Mergers vertically in the market are rarely of concern, although in AOL/Time Warner[106] the European Commission required that a joint venture with a competitor Bertelsmann be ceased beforehand. The EU authorities have also focused lately on the effect of conglomerate mergers, where companies acquire a large portfolio of related products, though without necessarily dominant shares in any individual market.[107]

Intellectual property, innovation and competition

Competition law has become increasingly intertwined with intellectual property, such as copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and in some jurisdictions trade secrets.[108] It is believed that promotion of innovation through enforcement of intellectual property rights may promote as well as limit competitiveness. The question rests on whether it is legal to acquire monopoly through accumulation of intellectual property rights. In which case, the judgment needs to decide between giving preference to intellectual property rights or to competitiveness:

  • Should antitrust laws accord special treatment to intellectual property.
  • Should intellectual rights be revoked or not granted when antitrust laws are violated.

Concerns also arise over anti-competitive effects and consequences due to:

  • Intellectual properties that are collaboratively designed with consequence of violating antitrust laws (intentionally or otherwise).
  • The further effects on competition when such properties are accepted into industry standards.
  • Cross-licensing of intellectual property.
  • Bundling of intellectual property rights to long-term business transactions or agreements to extend the market exclusiveness of intellectual property rights beyond their statutory duration.
  • Trade secrets
    , if they remain a secret, having an eternal length of life.

Some scholars suggest that a prize instead of patent would solve the problem of deadweight loss, when innovators got their reward from the prize, provided by the government or non-profit organization, rather than directly selling to the market, see Millennium Prize Problems. However, innovators may accept the prize only when it is at least as much as how much they earn from patent, which is a question difficult to determine.[109]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
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  2. ^ .
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  5. ^ "Trust Busting - Ohio History Central". ohiohistorycentral.org. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  6. ISSN 2329-9134. Archived from the original
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  7. ^ JG Castel, 'The Extraterritorial Effects of Antitrust Laws' (1983) 179 Recueil des Cours 9
  8. .
  9. ^ Vitali S, Glattfelder JB, Battiston S (2011) The Network of Global Corporate Control. PLoS ONE 6(10): e25995. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025995 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0025995&type=printable
  10. ^ see, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Regulation and Sectors page.
  11. ^ Bork (1993), p. 56
  12. ^ This is Julius Caesar's time according to Babled in De La Cure Annone chez le Romains.
  13. ^ a b Wilberforce (1966) p. 20
  14. ^ Wilberforce (1966) p. 22
  15. ^ a b c Wilberforce (1966) p. 21
  16. ^ Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law Vol. II, 453
  17. ^ 51 & 52 Hen. 3, Stat. 1
  18. ^ 51 & 52 Hen. 3, Stat. 6
  19. ^ Wilberforce (1966) p. 23
  20. ^ 23 Edw. 3.
  21. ^ 27 Edw. 3, Stat. 2, c. 25
  22. ^ 25 Hen. 8, c. 2.
  23. ^ "... the modern common law of England [has] passed directly into the legislation and thereafter into the judge-made law of the United States." Wilberforce (1966) p. 7
  24. ^ (1414) 2 Hen. 5, 5 Pl. 26
  25. ^ .
  26. ^ according to William Searle Holdsworth, 4 Holdsworth, 3rd ed., Chap. 4 p. 346
  27. ^ (1602) 11 Co. Rep. 84b
  28. ^ For example one John Manley paid p.a. from 1654 to the Crown for a tender on the "postage of letters both inland and foreign" Wilberforce (1966) p. 18
  29. ^ (1685) 10 St. Tr. 371
  30. .
  31. ^ .
  32. .
  33. .
  34. .
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  36. .
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  49. ^ "Expert Guides – A new era for competition law in the ASEAN region". Expert Guides. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  50. ^ Hawaii v. Standard Oil Co. of California, 405 U.S. 251 (1972), 262.
  51. ^ Office of Fair Trading, Modernisation: Understanding competition law, p. 4, published December 2004, accessed 27 November 2023
  52. ^ "EUR-Lex – 32003R0001 – EN – EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
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  56. ^ McEwin, R Ian (2003). "COMPETITION LAW IN A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY". University of New South Wales Law Journal. 15: 246.
  57. ^ see a speech by Wood, The Internationalisation of Antitrust Law: Options for the Future 3 February 1995, at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/speeches/future.txt
  58. ^ Whish (2003) p. 448
  59. ^ see, http://www.internationalcompetitionnetwork.org/
  60. ^ Campbell R. McConnell, Stanley L. Brue. Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2005. pp. 601–02
  61. ^ Smith (1776) Book I, Chapter 7, para 26
  62. ^ Smith (1776) Book I, Chapter 10, para 82
  63. ^ Mill (1859) Chapter V, para 4
  64. Kenneth Galbraith, The New Industrial State
    (1967)
  65. ^ Joseph Schumpeter, The Process of Creative Destruction (1942)
  66. ^ Whish (2003), p. 14.
  67. JSTOR 1807048
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  68. .
  69. .
  70. Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc. v. PSKS Inc.
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  71. .
  72. .
  73. .
  74. ^ a b Bork (1978), p. 405.
  75. ^ Bork (1978), p. 406.
  76. ISSN 0040-4411
    .
  77. ^ Brooke Group v. Williamson, 509 U.S. 209 (1993).
  78. ^ C-27/76 United Brands Continental BV v. Commission [1978] ECR 207
  79. ^ C-85/76 Hoffmann-La Roche & Co AG v. Commission [1979] ECR 461
  80. ^ AKZO [1991]
  81. ^ Michelin [1983]
  82. ^ Continental Can [1973]
  83. ^ Art. 82 (b) Porto di Genova [1991]
  84. ^ Case T-201/04 Microsoft v. Commission Order, 22 December 2004
  85. Commercial Solvents
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  86. ^ C-30/87 Corinne Bodson v. SA Pompes funèbres des régions libérées [1987] ECR 2479
  87. ^ see, e.g. Posner (1998) p. 332; "While it is possible to imagine cases in which predatory pricing would be a rational stragy, it should be apparent by now why confirmed cases of it are rare."
  88. ^ Case T-340/03 France Telecom SA v. Commission
  89. ^ AKZO [1991] para 71
  90. ^ in the EU under Article 82(2)c)
  91. ^ Irish Sugar [1999]
  92. ^ The World Bank. Republic of Armenia Accumulation, Competition, and Connectivity Global Competition (PDF). The World Bank.
  93. European Community Merger Regulation
  94. Court of First Instance
    wrote merger control is there "to avoid the establishment of market structures which may create or strengthen a dominant position and not need to control directly possible abuses of dominant positions"
  95. ^ The authority for the Commission to pass this regulation is found under Art. 83 TEC
  96. (PDF) on 13 January 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
  97. ^ Art. 2(3) Reg. 129/2005
  98. ^ Clayton Act Section 7, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 18
  99. ^ see, for instance para 17, Guidelines on the assessment of horizontal mergers (2004/C 31/03)
  100. ^ C-68/94 France v. Commission [1998] ECR I-1375, para. 219
  101. ^ Italian Flat Glass [1992] ECR ii-1403
  102. ^ T-342/99 Airtours plc v. Commission [2002] ECR II-2585, para 62
  103. ^ Mannesmann, Vallourec and Ilva [1994] CMLR 529, OJ L102 21 April 1994
  104. ^ see the argument put forth in Hovenkamp H (1999) Federal Antitrust Policy: The Law of Competition and Its Practice, 2nd Ed, West Group, St. Paul, Minnesota. Unlike the authorities however, the courts take a dim view of the efficiencies defense.
  105. ^ Kali und Salz AG v. Commission [1975] ECR 499
  106. ^ Time Warner/AOL [2002] 4 CMLR 454, OJ L268
  107. ^ e.g. Guinness/Grand Metropolitan [1997] 5 CMLR 760, OJ L288; Many in the US disapprove of this approach, see W. J. Kolasky, Conglomerate Mergers and Range Effects: It's a long way from Chicago to Brussels 9 November 2001, Address before George Mason University Symposium Washington, DC.
  108. ^ Antitrust Enforcement and Intellectual Property Rights: Promoting Innovation and Competition (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. April 2007.
  109. ^ Suzanne Scotchmer: "Innovation and Incentives" the MIT press, 2004 (Chapter 2).

References

Further reading

External links