scholarly journals Competition Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic – Towards More Room for Public Interest Objectives?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 118-129
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Kozak
2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omphemetse S. Sibanda Sr.

The paper addresses the delicate issue of public interest considerations when determining anti-dumping, competition, and investment measures to balance it with the interest of other interested parties in South Africa. It is particularly argued that the South African anti-dumping legislation must be amended as to clearly mandate the consideration of public interest when imposing an anti-dumping (or safeguard measure). Also, it is argued that the foreign direct investment regime must take into account policy considerations such as black economic empowerment in the public interest. The South Africas competition legislation will be used as an example of the level of convergence that may be achieved having regard to the non-competition factors incorporated in the legislation and potential or perceived difficulties in reconciling a competition analysis with a public interest analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30
Author(s):  
Desi Apriani

The business world is something that cannot be separated from business competition. There are business actors who compete in a fair competition  and there are also business actors who compete in a unfair competition. This is where the importance of the presence of business competition law in a country. In Indonesia, business competition law is contained in Law Number 5 of 1999 which prohibits monopolistic practices and unfair business competition. In relation to consumer protection, Law Number 5 Year 1999 has the aim of protecting the public interest and seeking public welfare. The prohibitions in the law indirectly have a protected effect on consumer interests. Need consistency in enforcement of business competition law so that the goal of protecting consumers can be achieved optimally.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-281
Author(s):  
Niamh Dunne

While European Union (EU) competition law has long been understood as a variety of public interest law, the extent to which the rules can be applied directly to advance noneconomic public interest-oriented goals is more contentious. This contribution considers whether and how such concerns can be accommodated within the framework of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). It considers both the conventional approach to addressing public interest concerns within the analytical structure of the antitrust rules and also how broader public interest objectives have shaped recent EU-level enforcement efforts in three key sectors: the liberalizing public utilities markets, the pharmaceutical sector, and the digital economy.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Johan W. van de Gronden ◽  
Mary Guy

Abstract Part of the controversy surrounding competition and health care stems from the complexity connected with delineating the applicability of competition law – encompassing both the provisions governing anticompetitive agreements and abuse of dominance and the state-aid rules. Cases determined at the European Union (EU) level within the past 30 years have developed a broad framework, and notable trends have emerged – for example, a distinction between health care providers and managing bodies (purchasers). The former have been subject to an ‘abstract’ test and the latter to a more sophisticated ‘concrete’ test. In this paper, we chart the development of the EU courts’ approach to developing the ‘undertaking’ concept in health care and examine the current EU competition law framework with a view to identifying future directions. van de Gronden has recently identified a ‘three-prong’ test of exemption from competition law in connection with the recent CEPPB case: firstly, where the supply of services is predominantly dependent upon public financing; secondly, the public funding aims to achieve a public interest goal and thirdly, the activities concerned are closely related to this public interest goal. We examine this test in a health care context, drawing on our findings regarding Dutch competition reforms.


2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-497
Author(s):  
Peter C. Carstensen

The relationship between law including competition policy and the goal of advancing innovation and entrepreneurship is complex. Bert Foer’s chapter identifies the many ways that competition law and policy directly and indirectly can affect positively or negatively the advancement of that goal. The comment seeks to highlight that range and complexity by using the categories from the traditional I-O Paradigm to show where and how antitrust law and policies it seeks to advance can be used to shape the conditions, structure, and conduct in markets to facilitate outcomes that will advance the public interest in innovation and entrepreneurship.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-272
Author(s):  
Klaus D. Beiter

Abstract Increasingly, the economy of industrialised countries moves away from being based on a multiplicity of independent innovators to one characterised by cross-licensing and the pooling of intellectual property (IP) rights. Competition law is accorded a more limited role. Refusals to license or restrictive licence terms are tolerated. This paradigm emphasises the innovation at the expense of the dissemination rationale of IP and competition law. The pressure on developing countries is to follow suit. However, this approach jeopardises overcoming the technology dependence of these states. Yet, the political consensus underlying the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was that, in exchange for IP rights protection, a transfer and dissemination of technology benefiting the global South would occur. This has not taken place so far. Taking this promise seriously requires according an enhanced, more social role to competition law. Articles 8(2), 31 and 40 of TRIPS – the TRIPS competition rules – could be interpreted in a way to accomplish this. This article argues in favour of a “prodevelopment” approach to IP-related competition law. This could be viewed as a demand of the rule of law at the international level. On the one hand, treaties such as TRIPS are to be interpreted in good faith. On the other, public interest and human rights considerations justify, as it were, require, such an approach. Articles 7 and 8 of TRIPS can play a crucial role in this regard. They reflect such public interest considerations as “object and purpose” of TRIPS. They also provide a link to international human rights law (IHRL). IHRL protects a (group) right to development, confirming “policy space” for World Trade Organization (WTO) members and the freedom to opt for a competition law model that facilitates dissemination. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) further protects various economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications (REBSPA). These rights may be said to give rise to “transfer and dissemination of technology” as a human right. Duties under the right to development and “territorial” and “extraterritorial” human rights obligations (ETOs) under the ICESCR support an understanding of competition law which is pro development, which takes account of local access and welfare needs. The article concludes with a set of 10 consolidated considerations for a “prodevelopment” IP-related competition law.


2021 ◽  
pp. 201-230
Author(s):  
Bruce Lyons

Chapter 8 on institutional reform written by Bruce Lyons notes that the period since 1998 has seen major changes in competition law, including: public interest was replaced by promotion of competition as the primary duty; anti-competitive agreements and abuse of a dominant position were prohibited, with significant penalties for breach; and the minister withdrew from case decisions, making the institutions determinative. There were also major organizational changes, including merger of the OFT and the Competition Commission to form the Competition and Markets Authority, and establishment of the Competition Appeal Tribunal as a specialist appeals body. In the chapter, Lyons considers the evolution of these institutions from the perspective of how they frame and influence the quality of first instance determinations. Institutions are hostages to their history, and he traces some of the problems faced by the CMA to its institutional roots. New challenges beyond its control are also identified. Reform is needed. The chapter concludes that some of the CMA’s suggestions for legislation are misguided, particularly in replacing its competition duty with ‘the consumer interest’ and reducing the standard of review by the CAT. Alternative proposals are appraised, including a potential change to a prosecutorial system. Lyons argues convincingly that genuinely independent decision-making within the CMA should be preferred and would permit a more limited standard of review.


Author(s):  
A. V. Molchanov

Regulation of relations connected with the organization and holding of tenders exclu- sively by the norms of civil law and civil legislation is impossible, since the issues of ensuring competition are of a public nature, aimed at ensuring public interest, which is the basis of the constitutional system of our state, and therefore require public legal regulation. Taking into account the importance of tenders for ensuring competition, it is more effective to develop both the legal institution of tenders in the sphere of complex branch of competition law and the legislation on tenders, as its external manifestation, in the sphere of antimonopoly legislation.


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