competition

  •  MY OWN NOTES

     

    Why?

     Protection of consumers

    Fair competition in fair trade market

     

    Article 101

     Undertakings- any legal person engaged in an economic activity

     

    Agreement - gentleman's agreements 'quinine cartel'

     

    Decisions - a trade association sets instructions for its members

     

    Concerted practice - collusion between undertakings; not acting independently on the market

     

    They need an object or effect of restricting competition

     

    IT HAS TO HAVE AN EFFECT LIKE A BIG EFFECT

     

    101(3) exemptions but must apply to all four

     

    They now after 2003 cant do it individually it has to be through the national courts

     

    Block exemptions - research and development, franchising tesco, tesco metro, tesco extra etc, vertical restraints (sharp = even tho i got it from currys they are distributor)

     

    Article 102

     

    Requires

    • Undertaking

    • Market dominance

  •  

    Product market -

    • United Brands: Defined the concept of a dominant position.

  •  

    United Brands vs. Commission

     Imagine you're the biggest banana seller in Europe. You control a large part of the banana market. To keep your profits high, you decide to do some things that other banana sellers can't:

    • You set different prices for bananas in different countries. This means people in some countries pay more for bananas than people in other countries.

    • You only sell bananas that are almost ripe. This forces stores to buy bananas from you early, even if they don't need them yet.

  • The European Commission is like the referee of the business world. They make sure that big companies don't use their power to unfairly treat smaller companies or customers.

    They didn't like what you were doing. They said you were abusing your power as the biggest banana seller. They fined you for breaking the rules of fair competition.

    You disagreed with the Commission's decision and took them to court. But the court sided with the Commission.

    So, what did we learn? Big companies can't use their power to control prices or limit choices. The European Commission is there to make sure everyone plays fair.

    In simpler terms: The company that owned Chiquita bananas was being unfair to its customers and competitors. The European Union said "no" and punished the company.

    Dominance; british airways v commission

     

    They had 40 percent and virgin only had 5 percent so they were still dominant

     

    • Abuse of that position

  • Unfair prices, limiting production, discriminating between trading partners, making contracts with extra obligations.

    • Effect on trade between MSs

 

Effect on trade between member states - wide interpretation.