Economic analysis of the firm’s boundaries and the limits of competition: The case of Nord Stream 2 AG

Using publicly available information, the article examines the economic concepts, which underlie the arguments of the decision of Polish competition authority UOKiK in relation to the participants of the Nord Stream 2. It explains the interrelation between economic and legal concepts, which are to be applied to interpret the competitive impact of joint venture and probable theory of harm for infrastructure investments under competition law of European Union, including in comparison with Russian competition law. It has been demonstrated that the resolution of a consortium case should be based on the proof of two statements. The first statement implies that the joint venture is a firm (and therefore the creation of a joint venture is a deal leading to economic concentration). The second statement means that despite Gazprom adopted the commitments about decision of the European Commission and trends in the development of the European gas market, the possibility of price discrimination is retained. Discussion and contestation of the decision against PJSC Gazprom testify in favor of maintaining the relevance of institutional studies and studies of industry markets for resolving legal disputes arising from the application of competition law.

Review of judicial cases involving the competition authority

Analysis of the legal positions of arbitration courts in cases of violation of antitrust laws in terms of consideration of issues: exceptions to the patent monopoly, approaches to proving anticompetitive agreements, establishing the fact of being under the control of a foreign investor, abuse of dominant position, bringing to administrative responsibility in the absence of representatives of the person involved. Target: developing uniform approaches in law enforcement practice in cases of violation of antitrust laws.

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

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.

Review of Judicial Cases Involving the Competition Authority

Analysis of the legal positions of arbitration courts in cases of violation of antimonopoly laws in terms of consideration of issues: determination of the dominant position of an economic entity, abuse by regulated organizations, abuse of regional operators in the treatment of MSW, approaches to proving anticompetitive agreements. Target. Development of uniform approaches in law enforcement practice in cases of violation of antitrust laws.

Data Processing as an Abuse of Market Power in Multi-Sided Markets. The More Competition-Oriented Approach in the German Federal Supreme Court’s Interim Decision KVR 69/19 – Facebook

The relationship between competition law and data protection law has been a highly controversial issue following the German Competition Authority’s (Bundeskartellamt, hereinafter ‘Competition Authority’) decision with regard to Facebook’s data processing policy. The Competition Authority’s theory of harm was centered around an exploitative abuse of market power through the imposition of a data processing policy which is in conflict with the data protection rules. In the interim court proceedings, the OLG Düsseldorf criticized the Competition Authority’s decision. The German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, hereinafter ‘Federal Supreme Court’) upheld the Competition Authority’s decision. However, the Federal Supreme Court did not derive the exploitative abuse primarily from a mere violation of data protection law. Instead, the Court referred to the users’ lack of freedom of choice. The Court developed a modified theory of harm by identifying elements of an exploitative abuse but also of an exclusionary abuse. The Court’s line of argument is more competition-oriented and accounts for the particular economic features of multi-sided markets. In this line of reasoning, an actual violation of the data protection rules is not a necessary prerequisite for finding a violation of competition law.

Alignment with EU Regulations in the Field of the Competition Policy and System of State Aid in Western Balkan Countries

The underying idea behand the foundation of the European Union is a single, integrated and competitive market. The future of the entire Western Balkans region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) lies within the European Union. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the multiplicative effects of the alignment of European Union regulations with the competition policy in Western Balkan countries. In addition, the paper is designed to highlight the specific issues, challenges in this field, and provides an overview of empirical trends. A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach proposes methodological framework which recognizes different economic environments and regulatory frameworks. By comparing selected economic indicators related to competiton authorities (number of staff in the national authorities, annual budget of the national authorities, number of prohibited agreements, abuse of dominant position, notification of concentrations, opinions), the authors give a reliable basis for comparative progress analysis in this filed. Using multi-criteria optimization as a key method, as well as network and input-output display, the obtained results suggest country whose competition authority is efficient frontier. The significance of this research stems from the current debate whether the harmonized competition policy should speed up and facilitate the process of the accession of new member states to the European Union.

Forest Management Cooperatives and Their Development Under Uncertain Conditions: A Comprehensive Analysis Using an Actor-Centered Institutionalism Approach

The change in forest ownership structures, the resulting fragmentation of forest properties and restitution processes have led to the emergence of organizations in Europe that are able to deal with these challenges. Changes in the timber selling process due to decisions of the German Federal Competition Authority have led first to uncertain conditions for forest management cooperatives (FMCs) and their members in the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. In the course of this change, some FMCs have questioned their status quo while others have evolved under uncertain conditions. This paper aims to provide an overview of factors determining the further development of forest management cooperatives under uncertain conditions following the categories of actor-centered institutionalism (ACI). To be able to conduct a comprehensive political analysis of the changes taking place in the timber selling process, the ACI approach is used in conjunction with path dependency as the theoretical framework for this paper. Methodologically, it is based on a qualitative analysis of field protocols from four regional conferences in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, involving a total of 140 participants in 2017. The results highlight that individual actors, the economic and social capabilities of FMCs, the existing constellations and interactions determine further developments under uncertainty. Legal certainty and in some cases the withdrawal of the state determine positively the dealing with uncertain situations. Foresters and their direction essentially determine the development. Furthermore, FMCs highlight that the cooperation with municipal foresters has a positive impact that will help deal with uncertainty in the future. A clear interest of cooperation and long-standing relationships also determine further developments under uncertain conditions.

Merger Control in Hungary

The present study presents the findings of the most comprehensive research that has ever been conducted in relation to the 30-year-old Hungarian merger authorisation process that has been in place since the political transition in Hungary. The aim of the research is, in particular, to present to the wider professional public the development of the authorisation process for mergers (or concentrations) in Hungary, which started in the last decade, and the resulting public value returns that have been achieved. The most important results to emerge from the research are that – compared to 2010 data – the average procedure time for full-scale merger proceedings in 2020 was reduced by 62%, and the administrative time limit for simplified cases decreased by 82.5%. Furthermore, the research revealed that today one-third of the Hungarian Competition Authority’s market interventions in connection with mergers take a verbal/informal form. This study was conducted using the methodology of data processing and analysing that are at the disposal of the Hungarian Competition Authority.