Competition

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

Canada, Competition

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

Three key themes will shape Canadian competition and foreign investment law in 2015. Specifically, we see developments in these areas unfolding in a regulatory environment in which administration and enforcement is increasingly: • consumer-facing: The Competition Bureau’s focus on enforcement in consumer-facing industries will continue into 2015, with policy emphases and recent or open dossiers…

Competition, United Kingdom

(St Johns Chambers, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

The High Court has recently provided guidance on the application of limitation periods in competition damages actions. In Arcadia v Visa, it ruled that a substantial part of the claimant’s claim, which dated back to 1977, should be struck out for having been brought too late, so reducing the claimed damages by around £500 million….

Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Dominance, Enforcement, Investigations, Mergers, United Kingdom

(St Johns Chambers, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

The Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has recently published its draft Annual Plan for 2015/2016, its second year of operation after assuming the functions of the Competition Commission and the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading (“OFT”) on 1 April 2014. Together with a Strategic Assessment of the risks that consumers and markets…

Australia, Competition

(K&L Gates)/ /Leave a comment

Co-authored by Ayman Guirguis (Partner), Jackie Mortensen (Senior Associate), Asa Lam (Lawyer) & Jessica Qiu (Lawyer).   On 22 September 2014 the much anticipated Draft Report of the ‘root and branch’ review of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (Act) (Harper Review) was released. The proposed recommendations of the Harper Review panel (Panel) are…

Antitrust, Competition, Consumer welfare

(RBB Economics)/ /1 Comment

In October 2014, the Commission published the result of its long-awaited food retail study. The study provides an extensive empirical analysis of the impact of bargaining power and private label on choice and innovation. However, the study suffers from a crucial shortcoming: none of the countries with high levels of retail concentration have been included…

Competition, European Commission

(College of Europe, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

10th GCLC Annual Conference Thursday-Friday, November 6-7, 2014 “10 YEARS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATION 1/2003: CHALLENGES AND REFORM” This conference is dedicated to Regulation 1/2003 and its first ten years of implementation. It explores the various issues that arise over the life-cycle of cases falling within the scope of Article 101 and 102 TFUE. This…

Competition, European Commission, European Union

(St Johns Chambers, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

Inductive reasoning is sometimes explained by using either the ‘duck test’ (“if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”) or the ‘elephant test’ (“it is difficult to describe, but you know it when you see it”). In EU competition law, it sometimes…

Antitrust, Competition, United Kingdom

(St Johns Chambers, United Kingdom)/ /Leave a comment

Two unusual features of the United Kingdom’s merger control regime are that notification is voluntary and there is no ‘suspension’ obligation. This means that mergers can be – and routinely are – completed without notification to and/or approval by the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”). In this article, I examine the CMA’s use of its…

Competition, Consumer welfare, European Commission, European Union, Mergers, Policy

(Baker McKenzie, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

Just over a year ago, I wrote (rather extensively) on the European Commission’s public consultation entitled “Towards more effective EU Merger Control” in which the Commission proposed to (i) expand its powers to review non-controlling minority interests and (ii) streamline the case referral system between the European Commission and NCAs (see here). Our regular readers…

Antitrust, Cartels, Competition, Enforcement, Europe, European Union, Investigations, Leniency, Policy

(WKB Wierciński, Kwieciński, Baehr, Poland)/ /Leave a comment

On 10 June 2014, the Polish Parliament adopted a significant set of amendments to the Polish Competition Law Act (the “Act”). Having received Presidential approval on 30 June 2014, the amended Act is now waiting for publication. The changes are expected to come into force relatively soon. The amendments will take effect 6 months after…