State Initiated Restraints Of Competition

This new book addresses important current problems and challenges arising from a large variety of state-initiated restraints. Beyond state-owned enterprises, rules on government procurement and the control of state subsidies, the contributions also ana

Inevitably, every marketed product or service can always be located at the intersection of intellectual property law and competition law, a nexus rife with potential problems throughout the ‘life’ of an intellectual property (IP) right. This important book is the first to focus in depth on this intersection in the European context, masterfully elucidating the consequences for IP rights owners from the right’s inception to its transfer, sale, or demise. The authors describes and analyses the following topics and more in detail: • characteristics, purpose and theoretical justifications of IP rights; • obtaining, maintaining, and exploiting an IP right; • effects of provisions of European competition law regarding cartels, block exemptions, abuse of dominant position, free movement of goods, and merger control; • competition between originator companies and generic companies; • licensing, especially the problem of refusal to grant a license; and • enforcement of an IP right. The book analyses all major cases affecting aspects of the intersection, supported by an examination of the historical background and political influence concerning the two areas of European law. There are also special chapters on the prominent and influential national legal systems of Germany, the United States, China, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. An annex provides texts of the major antitrust regulations dealing with European IP rights. As a ‘biography’ of IP rights focusing on areas of entanglement with European competition law, this book is without peer. Its clear-sighted view of the status quo and emerging trends in the two fields will be of immeasurable value to practitioners, policymakers, and academics dealing with issues at the intersection of intellectual property law and competition law in Europe and elsewhere.

This EYIEL special issue examines the interaction between international investment law and competition law. Although issues related to both international investment law and competition law arise regularly in international legal practice and are examined together, scholarly analysis largely treats them as parallel universes. As a result their actual and potential overlap has yet to be sufficiently explored. In this light, International Investment Law and Competition Law discusses a variety of topics at the intersection of investment and competition, including the interaction between competition-related provisions and investment protection standards in free trade agreements; investors’ anti-competitive behaviour and illegal investments; state aid schemes and foreign investors’ legitimate expectations; EU member States’ compliance with investment awards as (illegal) state aid under EU law; State-owned enterprises and competitive neutrality; and interactions between public procurement, investment and competition law.

In enforcing EU competition law, the Commission employs a unique doctrine of parental antitrust liability: it imposes fines on the parent company of an infringing subsidiary in cases where the parent exercises decisive influence over the subsidiary's commercial policy. Critics of this contentious aspect of EU competition law believe that the doctrine is unfair, ineffective, obscure, disproportionate, contrary to due process, and based upon a dubious, if not extremely flimsy, justificatory foundation. Such criticism raises serious and unanswered questions about the legitimacy of the Commission's efforts to enforce competition law. Parental Liability in EU Competition Law: A Legitimacy-Focused Approach is the first monograph to be dedicated to this controversial topic. Written by Professor Peter Whelan, the book contends that, although the general concept of parental liability can be justified in principle, the current EU-level doctrine of parental antitrust liability in fact suffers from a distinct and problematic lack of legitimacy. More specifically, the said doctrine displays significant deficiencies with respect to effectiveness, fairness, and legality. Given this undesirable state of affairs, Parental Liability in EU Competition Law offers a fully-rationalised, reformulated approach to parental antitrust liability for EU competition law violations that is built around the notion of parental fault. That approach provides a solid normative account of how to impose parental antitrust liability in a manner that is theoretically robust, effective in practice, fair in substance, and legally sound.

Global Competition Enforcement New Players, New Challenges Edited by Paulo Burnier da Silveira & William Evan Kovacic In a short span of years, the landscape of global competition has changed significantly. In particular, international cooperation in competition law enforcement has greatly strengthened the battle against abuse of dominance, cartels, anticompetitive mergers and related political corruption. This thoroughly researched book explains the current situation regarding joint investigations, identifies common problems and considers possible solutions and future developments. In addition to covering issues of competition policy, its authors look in detail at practice in both merger and conduct investigations in a variety of countries. The following aspects of the subject and more are examined in depth: the interface between antitrust and anti-corruption; the digital economy’s challenges to competition authorities; convergent aims and rules among different competition authorities; regional organizations with competition mandates; competition neutrality and state-owned enterprises; and leniency programmes. Although necessarily there is considerable information on major antitrust regimes like those of the United States and the European Union, chapters by local experts highlight lessons to be learned from the work of competition authorities in five continents including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. The contributors include competition enforcers, regulators, academics, practitioners and leading commentators from a range of jurisdictions. Adding up to an authoritative analysis from the enforcer’s perspective, the studies presented in the book clarify the approaches and priorities of competition enforcement authorities – including those of major emerging economies – and provide expert guidance on dealing with transnational investigations. Antitrust lawyers, corporate counsel and interested academics as well as policymakers will benefit immeasurably from this book’s wealth of informative detail.

This highly topical volume presents pioneering research for the purpose of developing a common analytical foundation and framework for the emerging interdisciplinary research field of investment control. Long considered as exceptional measures, restrictions on inward foreign direct investments (FDI) have become ever more common and accepted. This book presents different perspectives on how decision-makers go about the tasks of assessing risks and threats to national security that may be posed by FDI and then balancing those risks and threats against economic interests of parties concerned and society at large.

The digital economy is gradually gaining traction through a variety of recent technological developments, including the introduction of the Internet of things, artificial intelligence and markets for data. This innovative book contains contributions from leading competition law scholars who map out and investigate the anti-competitive effects that are developing in the digital economy.

This book explores key elements of European Union (EU) engagement with the Belt Road Initiative (BRI), drawing on the expertise of leading practitioners and scholars of EU-China relations. Under the theme of discerning the BRI and its nexus with the EU, chapters examine the nature of the BRI as China’s approach to global governance and consider how BRI intersects with the EU as a very different regional integration project. Under the theme of BRI factors in EU law and policy, chapters examine the BRI as a factor in specific domains of EU law and policy, including investment, finance, the environment and the COVID-19 pandemic and consider EU responses. Under the theme of EU Member State experiences, chapters present a series of case studies of individual Member States, their engagement with the BRI and ongoing policy debates. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of International Relations, EU external relations, Chinese public policy and foreign relations, European studies and security studies as well as policymakers dealing with China in EU and Member State institutions.