Citizendia

Competition law
Basic concepts
Anti-competitive practices
Laws and doctrines

United States

Europe

  • European Community
    competition law
  • Irish Competition Law
  • Competition Act 1998 (U. Competition law history refers to attempts by governments to regulate Competitive markets for goods and services leading up to the modern competition or Antitrust The term "monopolization" refers to an offense under Section 2 of the American Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890 In Economics and Business ethics, a coercive monopoly is a business concern that prohibits competitors from entering the field with the natural result being that Natural monopoly is a term used in Economics to refer to two different things In Economics and especially in the theory of Competition, barriers to entry are obstacles in the path of a firm which wants to enter a given Market In Economics, market power is the ability of a firm to alter the Market price of a good or service In Competition law, before deciding whether companies have significant Market power which would justify government intervention the test of Small but Significant and Non-transitory In Competition law the Relevant market defines the market in which one or more goods compete Merger control refers to the procedure of reviewing Mergers and acquisitions under Antitrust / competition law Anti-competitive practices are Business or Government practices that prevent and/or reduce Competition in a Market (see Restraint of trade Collusion is an agreement usually secretive which occurs between two or more persons to deceive mislead or defraud others of their legal rights or to obtain an objective forbidden A cartel is a formal (explicit agreement among firms Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve Price fixing is an agreement between business competitors to sell the same product or service at the same price Product bundling is a Marketing strategy that involves offering several products for sale as one combined product Tying is the practice of making the sale of one good (the tying good to the De facto or De jure customer conditional on the purchase of a second distinctive Refusal to deal is one of several Anti-competitive practices forbidden in countries which have Free market economies In Competition law, a group boycott is a type of Secondary boycott in which two or more competitors in a Relevant market refuse to conduct business Exclusive dealing refers to when a retailer or wholesaler is ‘tied’ to purchase from a supplier on the understanding that no other distributor will be appointed or receive supplies Bid rigging is an illegal agreement between two or more competitors Dividing territories (also Market division) is an agreement by two companies to stay out of each other's way and reduce competition in the agreed-upon territories Conscious parallelism is a term used in Competition law to describe Price-fixing between competitors in an Oligopoly that occurs without an actual spoken Predatory pricing (also known as destroyer pricing) is the practice of a firm selling a product at very low price with the intent of driving competitors out of the Market In United States patent law, patent misuse is an Affirmative defense used in patent litigation when a Defendant has been accused to have Copyright misuse is an equitable defense against Copyright infringement in the United States based on the unreasonable conduct of United States antitrust law is the body of Laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior (monopoly and Unfair business practices. The Sherman Antitrust Act ( Sherman Act, July 2, 1890, ch 647,) was the first United States Federal statute to limit Cartels and The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 ( October 15[[ 914]] ch 323, codified at,) was enacted in the United States to add further substance to the U The Robinson-Patman Act of 1936 (or Anti-Justice League Discrimination Act,) is a United States federal law that prohibits what were considered at the time of passage The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 (15 USC §§ 41-58 as amended) established the Federal Trade Commission (FTC a Bipartisan body of five members The Merger guidelines are a set of internal rules promulgated by the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ in conjunction with the The essential facilities doctrine (sometimes also referred to as the essential facility doctrine) is a Legal doctrine which describes a particular type of claim of The Noerr-Pennington doctrine is a doctrine of United States Antitrust law set forth by the United States Supreme Court in a pair of cases which The rule of reason is a doctrine developed by the United States Supreme Court in its interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. European Community competition law is one of the areas of authority of the European Union. The Competition Act 1998 is the current major source of competition policy in the UK along with Enterprise Act 2002. K. )

Australia

Enforcement authorities and organizations
edit box

Irish Competition Law is the Irish body of legal rules designed to ensure fairness and freedom in the marketplace. The Trade Practices Act 1974 is an act of the Parliament of Australia. The International Competition Network is an informal virtual network that seeks to facilitate cooperation between Competition law authorities globally A competition regulator is a Government agency, typically a statutory authority, sometimes called an economic regulator, which regulates and enforces Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. A marketplace is the space actual or metaphorical in which a Market operates The key provisions of Irish competition law (a) usually outlaw anti-competitive arrangements between undertakings and associations of undertakings; (b) always outlaw the abuse of dominance by undertakings; (c) control certain mergers and acquisitions. The Competition Act, 2002, replaced the The Competition Act, 1991. It is comparable to, but different in certain key respects, from European Union competition law. European Community competition law is one of the areas of authority of the European Union. There are some similarities to the anti-trust law of the United States of America but the differences (particularly in relation to merger control and the way in which breaches are punished) are substantial. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Irish competition law is derived from two primary sources: statues (Acts) enacted by the Irish Parliament (the Oireachtas) and common law (precedent of judical decisions). A statue is a Sculpture in the round representing a person or persons an animal or an event normally full-length as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A  parliament is a Legislature, especially in those The Oireachtas (ɛrʲaxt̪ˠasˠ is the "national parliament" or Legislature of Ireland, sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann. It is suerpvised by the Competition Authority.

Contents

Relationship with EC Competition Law

Given the EU goals of an integrated, market economy EC Competition law has a heavy influence in national economic law. European Community competition law is one of the areas of authority of the European Union. EC competition law has superiority Irish competition law, Irish law must not contradict or inhibit the operation of EC law, but it may outlaw things which are legal under EC law, or punish breaches more severely. It also excercises a persuasive force over the jurisprudence of Irish competition law. Due to the requirement of compliance with EC law and the similar understanding and goals, Irish Courts will examine cases and precedents in the European Courts to see how it has been interpreted or to ensure that they are consistent. EC competition law has jurisdiction over cases which affect inter-state trade in the Union.

Regulation 1/2003 of the European Commission "decentralised" the enforcement of competition law with a number of reforms designed to increase the enforcment of EC rules in national courts[1].

Enforcement

The law is enforced by the Irish Competition Authority, who review mergers, and investigate cartels and abuse of dominance by undertakings. They can fine offenders, when can be appealed to the High Court. Private enforcement is also possible. An aggrieved party may sue the offender for damages under the Competition Act. However this facility has not been excercised much, possibly due to the difficulty of gathering evidence to prove such a breach. Regulation 1/2003 of the European Commission sought to increase private and public enforcement of EC rules in national courts to allow the commission to concentrate on bigger cases [2].

The Competition Authority operates a Cartel Immunity Programme which allows for immunity or leinency in sentencing for offenders which supply information to them that allows the prosecution of other breaches of the law[3]. The rule mirrors the European Commission's Leniency policy.

Irish competition law also regulates certain mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. Part III of the Competition Act 2002 provides that the Competition Authority must approve transactions which fall within the scope of Part III before they may be lawfully implemented.

While it is a small jurisdiction, Ireland has achieved considerable success in enforcing competition law by virtue of successful criminal prosecutions against various individuals and companies.

See also

The Irish Competition Authority's website: www. This is a list of Acts of the Oireachtas for the years 1922 to present tca. ie [1]

References

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic