UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICE IN NIGERIA: THE PANACEA TO THE LOOPHOLES IN ANTI-DUMPING REGIME

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amudat Bello
Keyword(s):  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
Unfair Trade Practice

scholarly journals Comparative Advertising in India: Need to Strengthen Regulations

2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhileshwar Pathak
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Comparative Advertising ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Consumer Protection Act ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Law ◽  
Unfair Trade Practice

With the liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy, firms have been aggressively and vigorously promoting their products and services. In a comparative environment, every representation of a product or service is about what ‘others are not.’ These practices raise questions about truthfulness and fairness of representation of products and services. This paper explores regulations on comparative advertising of products and services in the context of globalization and liberalization in India. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969, was amended in 1984 to introduce a chapter on unfair trade practices. One of the provisions constitutes any representation which ‘gives false or misleading facts disparaging the goods, services or trade of another person’ to be an unfair trade practice. The MRTP Commission and the Supreme Court have given shape to the provision. Most comparative advertisements refer to rival products as ‘ordinary,’ instead of specifically mentioning names of products. Aggrieved firms have claimed that ‘ordinary’ refers to all products other than the advertised one. The MRTP Commission, however, has maintained that the wording in the law �goods of another person� implies disparagement of an identifiable product of a specific manufacturer. Further, only if the disparagement is based on ‘false and misleading facts’ that the advertisement becomes an unfair trade practice. Establishing facts often requires detailed scientific and technical assessment of the products. Our courts are not equipped to deal with this. As courts can take a long time to settle a dispute, what has become crucial is whether a court would award intermediate injunction or not. This is restraining the party from advertising pending a final decision by the court. In fact, by the time interim injunction is granted, the advertisement may have abready done the damage. The law makes provision for compensating the party for ‘loss of business and profit.’ The courts, however, have found computing losses to be not free from ‘complications and complexities.’ Thus, courts have not been awarding compensation. All these factors together have left the field of comparative advertisement effectively unregulated. The major findings of this study in this context are: The opening up of the economy, on its own, is not going to create and sustain competition. Protection against unfair trade practices has been available under the Consumer Protection Act. Thus, the repeal of the MRTP Act would not be of any significance. Not only the consumers but even the firms need adequate law against unfair trade practices to have some �rules of the game� for competing among themselves. But, within the structure of the Consumer Protection Act, competing firms cannot be �consumers� to approach a consumer forum. The state would need to develop adequate knowledge of the working of businesses in a free economy, enact laws, and create infrastructure and mechanisms for sustaining competition.

Legal Responses to Economic Liberalization: The Case of Unfair Trade Practices

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Akhileshwar Pathak
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Restrictive Trade ◽  
Legal Responses ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
Information Work ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Rules Of The Game ◽  
Unfair Trade Practice

This paper traces the evolution of law and practices in the past 20 years focusing on one aspect of unfair trade practices — unfairness in holding of games, contests, lotteries, and similar schemes for promoting sales and services in the context of India transitioning from a state controlled to a liberalized economy. With competition in the economy, firms have got into aggressive and competitive trade practices to entice the customers. These practices raise questions about the truthfulness and fairness of representation of products, services, advertisements, and schemes and modalities for promotion of products and services. There is a need for adequate law against unfair trade practices and a justice delivery system to have some ‘rules of the game’ to compete among themselves. The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969, was amended in 1984 to introduce a chapter on unfair trade practices. One of the provisions pertained to the holding of games and lotteries. It stated that ‘the conduct of any contest, lottery, game of chance or skill’ for promoting sales, services or business interest was an unfair trade practice and should, therefore, be disallowed. Following the provision, the MRTP Commission had stopped almost all promotion schemes which had an element of draw or lottery. For example, Whirlpool Ltd. had launched a ‘Scratch a Gift Scheme’ and Coca-Cola Ltd. had introduced a promotional scheme for Coke. Considering them to be lottery schemes, the Commission had restrained the companies. The judgement of the Supreme Court in the ‘Horlicks Hidden Wealth Prize Offer’ changed the entire scenario. The Commission considered this scheme to be a kind of lottery and, thus, an unfair trade practice. However, the Supreme Court, in its short judgement in 1998, commented that this was not a case of lottery as there was no draw of lots or that a price was charged for participation in the draw. The fact that some bottles of Horlicks contained a slip of paper which entitled the buyer to a prize is not a lottery in the ordinary sense of the word. Following the judgement, in all the pending cases before the Commission, the parties successfully argued that their schemes did not attract the provision of unfair trade practice as they had not charged extra for participation in the scheme. Ever since, there has been no restraint on holding of such promotion schemes. In this context, the firms would need to do the following: objectively examine if such schemes have any effect on the promotion of products demonstrate the genuineness of a scheme by disclosing vital information work towards formulating appropriate regulations.

scholarly journals USA - China: bad peace is better than a good “trade war”

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-287
Author(s):  
Stepan A. Ushanov ◽  
Sayar Akhmad Reshad
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Trade War ◽  
Good Trade ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Unfair Trade Practice

Article is dedicated to the trade and economic links of USA and China. The authors tried to find out key features and characteristics of these cooperation. At the same time the authors tried to analyze the logic and the reasons of the trade war that has been escalated by USA against China. It needs to underline that the unfair trade practice of China foreign trade and transfer of technologies led to the American Administration protectionism policy.

scholarly journals Dumping – Unfair Trade Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 06033
Author(s):  
Roman Serences ◽  
Dagmar Kozelova
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Imperfect Competition ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Graphical Analysis ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
Unfair Trade Practice

Research background: The Globalisation gradually has removed the protection that has existed to protect producers against unfair trade practices. Existence of imperfect competition within an international trade is presented by descending curve of average costs while increasing economies of scale; it often leads some producers not to adjust the price in relation to the marker. In this case, we speak about dumping. Purpose of the article: The article deals with dumping issue – an unfair trade practice analysing EU trade policy including antidumping, related Slovak legislation, price discrimination and dumping model. Methods: From a methodological point of view, the article is divided into four parts; description of trade policy, antidumping and its legislation, price discrimination and dumping model. Methods of synthesis, critical thinking and graphical analysis were used. Findings & Value added: In practice, accounting of different prices to the various consumers is called a price discrimination. The most common type of price discrimination in foreign trade is a dumping. It is a price practice when a company accounts lower price for exported goods compared to the same goods sale at home. World Trade Organization (WTO) allow counter such injury via trade defence instruments (TDIs). The EU TDIs are appropriate to tackle new challenges to international trade, because the Commission had done to modernise the EU’s basic Anti-Dumping (AD) Regulations.

In Search for a Jurisprudential Justification for the Recognition of a Right of Publicity in Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 585-615
Author(s):  
Moses Muchiri
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Personality Rights ◽  
Right Of Publicity ◽  
The World ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice

Abstract Publicity rights fall in the intersection between classic intellectual property rights law, unfair trade practices law and privacy rights law. This is an area that has recently witnessed notable judicial decisions in Kenya which have not gained ample exposure and is therefore worth looking into as an area for potential emerging jurisprudence. A look at the existing practices across different jurisdictions in the world reveals various positions and approaches with respect to publicity rights. On one hand, there are jurisdictions in which publicity rights are categorized within the broad spectrum of personality rights, while in other jurisdictions these rights are treated as proprietary rights. Some jurisdictions also take a hybrid approach that amalgamates both proprietary and personality rights approaches. Publicity rights cut across four broad legal areas: tort, property, privacy and unfair trade practice law. These rights also have common similarities with copyright and trademark rights, although they are not synonymous. A significant number of countries which recognize a right of publicity have a mixture of elements of these areas, either as a form of common law approach based on the tort of passing off, or specific statutory enactments on publicity rights. Legal practice and development in each jurisdiction must be considered in the knowledge that each country has developed specific publicity rights mechanisms in response to the socio-economic needs and realities existing in its particular jurisdiction. This study surveys the legal landscape with respect to development of personality rights in Kenya. It also takes a brief look at several other select jurisdictions in an attempt to answer the question whether there is a jurisprudential justification for the recognition of a publicity right in Kenya.

Anti-Dumping Duties in Canada

1966 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 131-160
Author(s):  
K. C. Mackenzie
Keyword(s):  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
International Price ◽  
The Government ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Domestic Economies ◽  
Considerable Pressure

The regulation of international price discrimination, commonly referred to as “dumping,” has been one of the most vexing technical problems to trouble international trade in this century. A favourite weapon of a firm or cartel bent on coercing or eliminating competition has been the price war — sales at below cost for the purpose of driving competitors into line or out of the market. This type of unfair trade practice is not limited by national boundaries, but the normal techniques of controlling it, through antitrust or anti-combines legislation, are largely confined to domestic economies as national governments lack authority to regulate competitors operating exclusively in foreign jurisdictions.Canadian manufacturers have been particularly sensitive to dumping because of the presence next door of large and powerful American competitors and of the close economic proximity of the industries of Britain and continental Europe. Consequently, it is not surprising that Canada pioneered in the field of legislation against dumping, enacting the original provisions in 1904. At that time the government was under considerable pressure from Canadian industry to increase tariffs generally and the introduction of anti-dumping legislation was designed to pacify this group without resorting to an overall increase in customs duties.

scholarly journals The Bullinger Pool in Burma, 1921 to the mid-1930s

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Maria Serena Diokno
Keyword(s):  
Price Policy ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Unfair Trade ◽  
Trade Practice ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Rice Prices ◽  
Primary Advantage ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Rice Trade

One of the most important developments in the history of the rice trade of colonial Burma was the creation of the Bullinger Pool in 1921, a combination of four large British milling and export firms based on a common price policy for the purchase and sale of paddy and rice. These firms dominated the rice trade at a time when paddy was the “true currency” of the country [Binns 1948:50]: as the source of livelihood for the majority and the form of payment for rent, loans, and wages. The collective position of the four companies—Steel Bros. and Co., Ltd., Bulloch Bros. and Co., Ltd., Ellerman’s Arracan Rice and Trading Co., Ltd., and Anglo-Burma Rice Co., Ltd.—reached such magnitude in the rice trade that by the 1930s, the conglomerate had become the subject of a legislative inquiry and the object of organized Burmese protest. The accusation against the Pool was that it manipulated prices in order to rake in huge profits, especially at the time of economic depression in the early 1930s. Even if the allegations of what one today might consider unfair trade practice were officially dismissed, as they were, the paper demonstrates that the Pool’s primary advantage, especially its access to paddy supplies, was the cornerstone of its position in the rice trade, making any measure of control plausible at the least. Since the relationship between paddy and rice prices was crucial to the industry’s pricing mechanism, the existence of a combination to set prices for both paddy and rice in the local market made the industry vulnerable to manipulation.

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