Download Competition Policy and Competition Law - Competition Law - Lecture Slides and more Slides Competition Law and Policy in PDF only on Docsity! Introduction to Competition Policy and Competition Law Docsity.com INDEX • Competition policy and competition law • Free-competition and unfair competition • Free-competition and consumer protection • Anti-competitive practices • Competition law Docsity.com INCREASE COUNTRY- COMPETITIVITY (Cont’d) • Encourage private sector or public firms? • Facilitate enterprise-creation? • Encourage domestic monopolies or attract foreign investors? • Attract FDI by offering tax- or other facilities? Docsity.com HOW CAN ENTERPRISES BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE? 1. By betting on competitive advantages 2. By superior know-how 3. By R & D 4. Using anti-competitive practices? 5. Misleading or false-advertising 6. Cheating on weights & measures 7. Counterfeiting, industrial espionnage… Docsity.com HOW CAN ENTERPRISES BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE? • 1,2 &3 are honnest means of accruing competitivity • 4,5,6 &7 are harmful practices, and 5,6 & 7 are illegal « unfair competition » practices, while 4 anti-competitive practices is proibited in many countries but not everywhere, and the harm on the economy as a whole is not well understood by all… Docsity.com ANTI-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES • Cartel agreements (Price-fixing, market allocation, predation against outsiders) • Abuse of dominant position of market power (A single firm able to fix prices and conditions without taking into acount competition, like a monopolist) • Anti-competitive concentrations, resulting in a dominant position or a monopoly. Docsity.com COMPETITION LAW Prohibits anti-competitive practices such as: • Cartel agreements • Collusive tendering • Abuses of dominance Controls: • Dominant firms and monopolies • Mergers and acquisitions which might result in monopoly or dominant firms • Establishes a Competition authority to ensure implementation of the law. Docsity.com GLOBALISATION • Deregulation of infrastructure sectors (Transport, telecoms, energy, banking) • Privatisation of State monopolies • Liberalisation of FDI • Liberalisation of international trade • Creation of Regional groupings of States Docsity.com DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN THE APPLICATION OF COMPETITION LAWS • Competition authority needs to be endowed with appropriate human and financial resources • Government support is not always guaranteed • The judiciary needs to be trained and reformed • Relations with sectoral regulators must be clarified • Consumers must be protected Docsity.com CONCLUSION • Members of Competition authority need training • Tasks of competition authority viz those of regulators in the field of competition must be clarified • Sectoral regulators need training in competition law and policy • Need for specialised judges Docsity.com CONCLUSION (End) • Need for international cooperation (UNCTAD, OECD, World Bank) • Bilateral, regional and sub-regional cooperation • Multilateral trade negotiations (WTO) • Regional trade negotiations • Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with EC • Effective role of NGOs (eg CUTS) Docsity.com
