Antitrust refers to a field of economic policy and laws dealing with monopoly and monopolistic practices. Antitrust law or antitrust policy are terms primarily used in the United States, while in many other countries the terms competition law or policy are used. Some countries have utilized the phrases Fair
Trading or Antimonopoly law. The intellectual basis for antitrust economics or policy is the sub-field of industrial organization economics which addresses issues arising from the behaviour of firms operating under different market structure conditions and the effect this has on economic performance. Most antitrust or competition laws have provisions dealing with structure such as mergers, monopoly, dominant market position and concentration, as well as behaviour, such as collusion, price fixing, and predatory pricing.
Source: OECD
As you are aware, the UK will be leaving the EU this Friday 31 January (Exit Day). The CMA has published guidance on how Brexit affects the CMA’s powers and processes for antitrust enforcement and merger control during the Transition Period, towards the end of that period, and after it ends. The guidance also explains…
The Davies Forecast of Top 5 Trends and Issues for Canadian Competition Law in 2020 Jim Dinning, Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz Here is Davies’ annual forecast of Canadian competition law developments for the year ahead. 1. FOCUS ON THE DIGITAL ECONOMY Given the Competition Bureau’s stated priorities during the tenure of current Commissioner of…
Recent Developments in Canadian Merger Review: Sad Holiday Tidings for Merging Parties Charles Tingley, Anita Banicevic, Mark Katz In his own version of the pre-holiday rush, the Canadian Commissioner of Competition challenged one merger transaction just before the Christmas holidays and entered into a consent agreement to preserve assets pending his review of another. The…
Recent Developments in Abuse of Dominance Law in Canada: When is Anti-Competitive Conduct Justified? Charles Tingley and Mark Katz On October 17, 2019, the Canadian Competition Tribunal dismissed an application by the Commissioner of Competition alleging that the Vancouver Airport Authority (VAA) had abused a dominant position in the market for in-flight catering services at…
In M&A transactions, the assessment of foreign investment filings routinely needs to be part of the diligence, including for industries that, at first glance, do not appear to be the most critical ones from a national security standpoint (e.g. consumer goods, dating apps, base chemicals and healthcare products). One of the challenges for companies and advisors is that new foreign investment regimes are…
The trend to digitalization has captured the economies of almost all progressive and developing countries and influenced activities of companies doing business in Russia, as well. As the Federal Antimonopoly Service (“FAS Russia”) stressed, the markets are becoming more complicated and digital. It means that virtually every company that has a computer could be considered…
Antitrust enforcers are good at regularly reminding the competition law community that the various forms of abuse of dominance listed in Article 102 TFEU are not exhaustive. Indeed, the idea of what conduct falls outside “competition on the merits” is ever evolving. And this can make it difficult for practitioners to set clear lines on…
In this briefing, we describe how certain employment practices, such as no-poach or wage-fixing agreements, may infringe competition law, a topic that has recently taken centre stage in the US and is also firmly, although more discretely, on the radar of antitrust authorities in Europe, but perhaps not yet on that of companies. Here is…
On 21 December 2018, the Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (“ACM”) published guidelines on its simplified settlement procedure (“Settlement Guidelines”).[1] Such a procedure can be followed if the ACM intends to impose a fine and the undertaking or person involved is prepared to admit the allegations and to accept the fine. The ACM can…
On 3 January 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) released a draft of the Regulation on the Prohibition of Monopoly Agreement Conduct (Draft) on its website, inviting comments from interested stakeholders. The consultation period ends on 3 February. The Draft is the first significant normative output in the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) field after…
