A situation in a market in which firms or sellers independently strive for the patronage of buyers in order to achieve a particular business objective, e.g., profits, sales and/or market share. Competition in this context is often equated with rivalry. Competitive rivalry between firms can occur when there are two firms or many firms. This rivalry may take place in terms of price, quality, service or combinations of these and other factors which customers may value.
Source: OECD
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…
Introduction In 2019 several studies have been published and discussions took place about digitalisation, online platforms and competition law. Many of us will probably have read the so-called Crémer, Furman, Stigler, and Lear-reports. The Netherlands did not lag behind. The Dutch government published amongst others a vision on data sharing between businesses and an updated…
This blog is written by Pauline Kuipers and Janneke Kohlen, Bird & Bird LLP Introduction The Dutch competition authority, ACM, initiated a market study in 2018 into the effect of the introduction of biosimilars on the competition between TNF alfa inhibitors. TNF-alfa inhibitors are biological medicines that are mainly used by rheumatoid arthritis patients, but…
Common ownership currently is one of the focus topics in the antitrust community. Einer Elhauge, a Harvard Law professor, has called it the “greatest anticompetitive threat of our times”. Others believe that there is no issue at all. The below gives an overview on the status of the debate and analyses the recent EU Commission…
Introduction On 19 March 2019, the highest administrative court in the Netherlands (het College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, “CBb”) ruled that the Dutch Competition Authority (“the ACM”) can hold private equity investors liable for cartel infringements committed by their portfolio companies.[1] According to the ACM, and now confirmed by the CBb, the private equity…
The National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter ‘NCLAT’) on September 19, 2018, passed an order which set aside the penalty of 87 crores imposed on Hyundai Motor India Limited by the Competition Commission of India.[1]Hyundai Motors India Limited v Competition Commission of India, Competition Appeal (AT) No 6/2017. One of the primary reasons for the penalty…
The Polish Competition Authority – the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (the ”PCA” or the “President of the OCCP”)–initiated the precedent antimonopoly proceedings against Gazprom and its international partners (Engie from Switzerland, as well as four other companies from the Netherlands: Uniper, OMV, Shell and Wintershall) related to an alleged violation…
On 19 April 2018, the Court of Justice (CJEU) issued an important ruling in the MEO case on the interpretation of Article 102(c) TFEU.[1] Article 102 prohibits, as incompatible with the EU’s internal market, any abuse by one or more undertakings of a dominant position in so far as it may affect trade between Member…
It has been just over a year since I last wrote on EU Merger Control and the Innovation Theory of Harm (the ITOH), see here. And what a year it has been. We still have no real idea what Brexit means. We still do not know who will win the World Cup this year, but…
The Act on Combating the Unfair Use of Contractual Advantage in the Trade in Agricultural and Food Products (the “Act”) entered into force on July 12th, 2017. Its essential goal is to eliminate unfair market practices from every stage of the food product supply chain. The new legislation was to be (and still is) a…
