Abuse of Dominant Position and Cease-and-Desist Agreements: Risks to Brazilian Competition Policy Arising from the Atypical Case of Petrobras’ Refineries

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 706-726
Author(s):  
Mário André Machado Cabral
Keyword(s):  
Competition Policy ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Oil Refinery ◽  
Competition Authority ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Abuse Of Dominant Position

Abstract This paper aims to analyze how the Brazilian competition authority, Cade, deals with cease-and-desist agreements involving abuse of dominant position. The focus is a recent abuse-of-dominant-position case. Cade and the Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company, Petrobras, negotiated a cease-and-desist agreement establishing as remedy the divestment of eight out of 13 Petrobras’ refineries. The hypothesis is that the case was atypical in the light of Cade’s own case law. The paper assesses the Petrobras’ case and compares it to Cade’s case law (2012-2019) concerning cease-and-desist agreements relating to the abuse of a dominant position. The results of the study confirm the atypicality of the case. It demonstrates that the case causes risks to Brazilian competition policy. The paper is divided as follows: after an introduction, the first section discusses abuse of dominant position in Brazil, especially the cases that concluded with cease-and-desist agreements; the second section describes the case related to Petrobras’ oil refinery assets; the third section verifies whether the case may be considered atypical; the fourth section debates the legal and policy risks arising from the case; the final section contains some concluding remarks.

Excessive Pharmaceutical Pricing as an Abuse of Dominant Position – The Case of CD Pharma (Denmark)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behrang Kianzad
Keyword(s):  
Public Procurement ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Pharmaceutical Market ◽  
Market Definition ◽  
Competition Authority ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pharmaceutical Pricing ◽  
Relevant Market ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Abuse Of Dominant Position

Abstract On 31 January 2018, the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority adopted a decision1 finding the Swedish company generic distributor CD Pharma in breach of Art. 102(a) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) by abusing its dominant position and having imposed excessive and unfair prices for the drug Syntocinon. The company increased the price of the drug by 2000% in the period April-October 2014 in the Danish pharmaceutical market. CD Pharma appealed to the Danish Competition Appeals Board,2 which on 29 November 2018 upheld the decision by the Authority. On subsequent appeal to the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court,3 the judgment by the previous court was upheld in a 3-2 decision on 2 March 2020, thus finding CD Pharma liable for infringement of Danish competition law as well as Art. 102(a) TFEU. The decision is final and not subject to further appeal. The case raises outstanding legal-economic issues regarding excessive pricing such as relevant market definition in pharmaceutical cases, the length of abuse, competitive price benchmarks, definition of economic value and the matter of dominance in public procurement and tenders. The case is rather unusual in that the alleged abusive period amounted to a six-month period, CD Pharma was the ‘losing’ party in the bidding process for the supply of the medicine in question, and CD Pharma subsequently had reduced prices through negotiations with the Danish central medicine procurer, Amgros. Similar to the Aspen Pharma decision4 by the Italian Competition Authority, where the Italian Medicine Agency (AIFA) reported the case to the Competition Authority, it was the Danish medicine procurer Amgros who had notified the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority about allegedly abusive practices. This subsequently led to an investigation and the adoption of the Decision. Following an introduction describing the Danish pharmaceutical market and specifics of the case, section two of this contribution details the proceedings at Danish Competition Authority. Section three depicts the proceedings at Competition Appeals Tribunal, and section four deals with the proceedings at the Maritime and Commercial Court. Section five concludes.

scholarly journals Constitutional Identity in the EU–A Shield or a Sword?

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1617-1640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Faraguna
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
Member States ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Constitutional Adjudication ◽  
Constitutional Identity ◽  
The Eu

This Article consists of five sections. In the first section, it describes why identity questions matter, particularly in Europe. In the second section, the Article tackles the issue of multiple structural ambiguities affecting the concept of constitutional identity in the European constitutional vocabulary. In the third section, the Article explores trends concerning the use of constitutional identity in the European legal discourse and practice, including the development of alternative interpretations and applications of the notion of constitutional identities in the Member States. The fourth section of the Article combines the analytical accounts outlined in the second section with the trends identified in the third section, contending that different conceptions and applications of constitutional identity have varying effects on the European composite constitutional adjudication system and that the institutional and procedural framework should be calibrated accordingly. The final section of this Article draws some conclusions.

scholarly journals An Overview of the New Competition Law: Issues for the Oil and Gas Industry

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Lawson A. W. Hunter ◽  
John F. Blakney
Keyword(s):  
Joint Ventures ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Abuse Of Dominant Position ◽  
Restraint Of Trade

This paper reviews the major changes to Canada's competition law enacted in 1986, including new merger and abuse of dominant position provisions, the establishment of a Competition Tribunal, mandatory pre-notification of certain transactions, and revisions of the prohibition against agreements in restraint of trade. Special attention is given to joint ventures, export agreements and vertically integrated resource companies.

scholarly journals O ENSINO E A PESQUISA SOBRE POLÍTICA EXTERNA NO CAMPO DAS RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS DO BRASIL

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Aurélio Pimenta de Faria
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Status ◽  
Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this article is to analyze teaching and research on foreign policy in Brazil in the last two decades. The first section discusses how the main narratives about the evolution of International Relations in Brazil, considered as an area of knowledge, depict the place that has been designed, in the same area, to the study of foreign policy. The second section is devoted to an assessment of the status of foreign policy in IR teaching in the country, both at undergraduate and scricto sensu graduate programs. There is also a mapping and characterization of theses and dissertations which had foreign policy as object. The third section assesses the space given to studies on foreign policy in three academic forums nationwide, namely: the meetings of ABRI (Brazilian Association of International Relations), the ABCP (Brazilian Association of Political Science) and ANPOCS (National Association of Graduate Programs and Research in Social Sciences). In the fourth section there is a mapping and characterization of the published articles on foreign policy between 1990 and 2010, in the following IR Brazilian journals: Cena Internacional, Contexto Internacional, Política Externa and Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional. At last, the fifth and final section seeks to assess briefly the importance that comparative studies have in the sub-area of foreign policy in the country. The final considerations make a general assessment of the empirical research presented in the previous sections.

6. Competition Policy Defending the Economic Constitution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Wilks
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Competition Policy ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Antitrust Enforcement ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Economic Constitution ◽  
Directorate General ◽  
The Law ◽  
Abuse Of Dominant Position

This chapter examines the European Union’s competition policy and how its effectiveness has steadily increased in terms of controlling restrictive practices, abuse of dominant position, mergers, state aid, and the liberalization of utilities. It considers how the central dominance of the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) in the European Commission has been perpetuated and how competition policy has become a supranational policy competence which can be regarded as an ‘economic constitution’ for Europe. The chapter also discusses the decentralization of antitrust enforcement to the national agencies and courts through the ‘Modernization Regulation’ of 2003, as well as a ‘turn to economics’ in which economic analysis has been substituted for legal tests to move towards an ‘effects-based’ (effect on competition) interpretation of the law.

Early Years, 1771–1795

2019 ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Lisa West
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third

This chapter surveys Charles Brockden Brown’s early biography into five sections. The first provides background on eighteenth-century Quaker history and culture in Philadelphia, including the unlawful arrest and banishment of Elijah Brown, Charles’s father. The second section reviews Brown’s youth, adolescence, and education. The third discusses his law apprenticeship from 1787 to 1793, a period during which he participated in literary clubs, experimented with writing, and developed meaningful friendships. His letters during these years show interest in a variety of moral issues and sometimes critique traditional tenets of Christianity. The fourth section discusses Brown’s early publications and his manuscript epistolary narratives. The final section focuses on the years 1793–1795, when Brown strengthened connections with the New York intellectual circle and distanced himself from his Philadelphia social network, culminating in a cogent rejection of Christianity.

Considerations Affecting the Preparation of Standard Tables of Mortality

1973 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 135-235
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Motor Vehicle Accidents ◽  
The Other ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
Mortality Curve ◽  
Vehicle Accidents ◽  
The Third ◽  
Standard Table

SynopsisThe first, introductory, section of the paper refers to the Committee's main report on the mortality of immediate annuitants in 1967-70 and to the features of the latest data which prevent it from recommending the preparation of a new standard table at present.The second section describes the preliminary work which led to the suggestion of a graduation formula which appeared to fit the 1967-70 assured lives' data at each duration, and over the whole range of ages up to 90; the graduation, like the experience, showed decreasing mortality with increasing age up to age 28. This work included consideration of mortality from motor vehicle accidents at the ages either side of 20, where the shape of the curve differed from the population experience. It also examined ages 90 and over, to indicate the extent to which very late notification of deaths to the offices distorted the exposed to risk.The third section describes the fitting, with the aid of a computer, of the formula suggested in the preceding section, in order to produce two alternative graduations, one with a two-year select period, the other a five-year select period. Below age 17, where the data were insufficient to indicate the underlying course of the mortality curve, an arbitrary extension of the graduations was made by reference to population experience. The graduations are compared with earlier tables in a short fourth section.The fifth and final section examines the possibility of producing a new table for pensioners, a class of lives for which hitherto there has been no appropriate mortality yardstick. It concludes with recommendations for the preparation of experience tables for male and female pensioners based on the 1967-70 data for “lives”.

scholarly journals Servants or Masters? Linguistic Aids in Legal Interpretation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-102
Author(s):  
Paulina Konca
Keyword(s):  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Interpretation ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ordinary Meaning ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
The Law

This paper presents the role of some intrinsic sources in legal interpretation. Some of linguistic aids follow from provisions of the law and other from the commonly accepted ruling practice or views expressed in literature. The position of those aids was verified through the analysis of case-law, literature, and provisions of law. The first section and second section focus on the priority of plain meaning rule and intrinsic sources in legal interpretation which is strongly emphasized in legal literature, case-law and the interpretative provisions of many countries. Next, it presents how certain linguistic tools work in case law practice, what problems they can cause and what problems they can solve. The third point addresses the use of dictionaries as tools of linguistic interpretation. The fourth section explores the role of selected interpretative canons often found in legal regulations and case law practice: ordinary meaning canon, gender/number canon, ejusdem generis canon, presumption of consistent usage and prefatory-materials canon. It is concluded that the priority of a linguistic interpretation is not absolute and can never be understood as its exclusivity. Linguistic tools are not in themselves determinants of correct meaning. In order to make a correct interpretation, it is necessary not to be guided, by indications labelled as objective, sometimes artificially imposed, but by the intention of the legislator, which such tools may discover and should only be used for that purpose. 

The shape of musical improvisation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milton Mermikides ◽  
Eugene Feygelson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Violin Concerto ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
Musical Space ◽  
The Third

This chapter presents practitioner–researcher perspectives on shape in improvisation. A theoretical framework based in jazz improvisational pedagogy and practice is established, and employed in the analysis of examples from both jazz and classical-period repertoire. The chapter is laid out in five sections. The first section provides a brief overview of improvisational research, while the second discusses the concept of improvisation as ‘chains-of-thought’ (a logical narrative established through the repetition and transformation of musical objects). The third reflects upon improvisation as the limitation and variation of a changing set of musical parameters. Using this concept, the fourth section builds a theoretical model of improvisation as navigation through multidimensional musical space (M-Space). The final section uses this model in a detailed analysis of the nineteenth-century violinist Hubert Léonard’s cadenza for Beethoven’s Violin Concerto Op. 61.

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