On 1 June 2010, a new Block Exemption Regulation (BER) and new Guidelines that affect the practical use of selective distribution systems enter into force. The BER exempts vertical agreements, such as selective distribution agreements, from the prohibition of Article 101 (1) TFEU. It is significant for individual market players to obtain knowledge of what impact the new BER and the new Guidelines have for the practical use of selective distribution systems. The Commission has amended the new BER and the new Guidelines in the light of the development the last decade. Two main changes are noticed that affect the content of the new legislative documents. Firstly, it is established that many distributors have obtained larger market shares. Secondly, it is stated that Internet sales have increased largely. The basic principles of the new versions of the BER and the Guidelines are identical with the former versions but the present changes are although noticeable for companies and their selective distribution systems. The new BER contains a new market share rule that is more restrictive than the corresponding rule in the former BER. However, the new market share rule is not an expression of a less tolerant approach towards selective distribution systems; rather an amendment necessary due to the development of distributors’ market shares. The growth of distribution in the Internet the last ten years is reflected in the new Guidelines. The Commission’s approach towards the Internet as a distribution method seems in general to be positive. It is noticeable that the Commission wants that parties of selective distribution agreements shall be able to benefit from all the positive effects of online sales at the same time as the Commission tries to preserve the positive effects of selective distribution. This thesis describes and examines the practical use of selective distribution systems. Different reasons for companies to use selective distribution systems and effects of the new BER and Guidelines are in particular examined.

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This thesis presents the Chinese and European competition laws on abuse of dominant position. The thesis starts with an introduction, and goes on to present the purpose of the study, which is to determine the similarities and differences between the Chinese and European prohibitions on ADP.       After the introductory part, consisting of background, method, material and previos research, the respective prohibitions are described in different aspects. The aspects are namely system, purpose, scope of application, what constitutes dominance and what constitutes abuse. Thereafter, the two prohibitions are compared. In the comparison, similarities are presented such as similar purposes, similar scope of application, very similar in what constitutes a dominant position and abuse. The systematics however differ more, and so do the rules on extraterritorial application.      In the concluding remarks, the results of the thesis are highlighted and the author shortly analyses the results..

This doctoral dissertation examines the European Commission’s dawn raid practices in competition cases from a fundamental rights perspective. In recent years the Commission has adopted a new and more aggressive enforcement policy, which reflects the widespread understanding that cartels and abuse of market power are harmful to the economy and should be punished. Given both the considerable gains to be made through anti-competitive practices and the cartel’s nature of secrecy, effective application of the competition rules requires that competition authorities are vested with far-reaching investigatory powers. At the same time, EU fundamental rights protection has been strengthened through the Lisbon Treaty, and the Commission now has to ensure effective application of the EU competition rules while navigating through an array of fundamental rights, such as the right of the defence and the right to privacy. The doctoral dissertation explores whether it is possible to strike a balance between the interests of ensuring effective dawn raids and adequate fundamental rights protection, or whether the Commission has been handed an impossible task. As the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights requires EU fundamental rights protection to meet or exceed the standard set by the ECHR, the research is based on case-law from both the EU Courts and the European Court of Human Rights. The research demonstrates that the European Court of Human Rights has adopted a flexible approach towards inspections at business premises; it does not require an ex ante review of inspection decisions and accepts rather intrusive investigatory measures, provided that and as long as the procedural safeguards surrounding such measures are considered adequate. This way, the court manages to strike a balance between efficiency concerns and the rights of undertakings. As for the EU system, the EU Courts are not providing judicial review to the extent required by the ECHR. While inspection decisions may be challenged, the possibilities to challenge measures taken on their basis, or have those measures suspended, are limited. This discrepancy between EU and ECHR law – which is of seemingly limited nature – may affect the legitimacy of the entire dawn raid procedure as the granting of far-reaching investigatory powers must be counterbalanced by effective judicial control to ensure that measures adopted by the Commission are neither disproportionate nor arbitrary. Absent an effective judicial control of measures taken on the basis of inspection decisions, the procedural safeguards surrounding dawn raids cannot be considered adequate, and it is possible that the powers of the Commission may need to be restricted accordingly. The research also demonstrates that some of the limitations in the legal professional privilege – such as the exclusion of correspondence with non-EU lawyers or legal advice that lacks connection with the subject-matter of the investigation – do not serve the interests of a proper administration of justice and may therefore be questioned.

This Master thesis named "Relationship between Competition Law and Intellectual Property Law", deals with the interface between competition law and intellectual property law in the context of European Union law. In the beginning of this thesis authors briefly introduce both legal disciplines and explain their most important terms and goals. The thesis is further divided into three main topics. Firstly, we elaborate on theoretic relationship between competition law and intellectual property in regard to their values, aims and methods of regulation. Then we dive into the issue of conflict of nationally regulated intellectual property law with the internal market and the freedom of movement of goods and services. The second thematic part clarifies the difference between market power and statutory monopoly that is granted to the owners of intellectual property. We analyse the specific issues of finding dominant position of competitors owning intellectual property. Then we examine individual types of behaviour that are considered to be abusive in the context of intellectual property law. Special focus is given to the issue of refusal to licence intellectual property that falls within the definition of essential facility doctrine. Lastly, we concentrate on cartel agreements in the context of intellectual...

1 Abstract - Protection of Economic Competition - Agreements Violating Competition Agreements distorting competition are quite dangerous for the goals of competition law and it is necessary to search for them, find them and punish them. Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to provide a complex explanation of the issue of prohibited agreements from the point of view of Czech and European competition law. Relatively brusque diction of primary sources of law is typical for competition law and for the regulation of prohibited agreements. For this reason a large area of law is left to the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and also for national courts in administrative judiciary. The thesis has in mind also the importance of the soft law which serve as a manual of the approach of the European Commission and the Office for the protection of competition which leads to a higher level of legal certainty. First chapter is dedicated to the explanation of basic terms of economic competition and of competition law. The largest space is given to the definition of the Czech term "competitor" and its European equivalent "undertaking". This chapter also explains relevant market and the matter of relationship between Czech and European competition law. The whole second chapter is dedicated to the...

Unfair competition in the Internet environment This diploma thesis deals with the manifestations of unfair competition on the Internet. The aims of the diploma thesis were to provide an overview of methods of unfair competition occurring in this specific environment and assess their capability to fulfil the general clause of unfair competition. The diploma thesis is divided into four chapters. The first one of them contains a general introduction to the law of unfair competition in terms of European legislation, namely Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and European Union law. The second chapter discuss the regulation of unfair competition in the Civil Code, the general clause in particular. The thesis analyses the three conditions of the general clause, which must be cumulatively fulfilled, with regard to the Internet environment. In the third chapter of this diploma thesis the concepts specific to the Internet environment, which are often interpreted incorrectly or wrongly, are described. I decided for inclusion of this chapter mainly due to the fact that I use these concepts in the text of this diploma thesis, therefore I wanted to avoid any inaccuracies or confusion that could result from their use without proper explanation. The fourth and most extensive chapter forms...

A competition agency represents an independent regulatory institution, which takes the form of an administrative body. A competition authority enables the development of markets and displays to market operators and new players a dedication to the principles of free markets and fair competition. In other words, a competition authority should intervene in a timely manner to correct any anti-competitive behaviour and implement the necessary remedies; it should be equipped with an adequate knowledge of the market in order to make its decisions. Moreover, its involvement should be predictable, that is, it should have a positive influence on markets. Furthermore, a competition agency should continuously evaluate its role as public institution and law enforcer by following the economic and legal evolution of the jurisdiction in which it operates. Until recently, the debate has predominantly revolved around the substance of competition law. However, in recent years, the evaluation of the performance of competition agencies has been embraced by numerous countries, including developing ones. This is because most emerging countries around the world have progressively been opening their domestic markets to competition, which led to giving more power to competition agencies to monitor markets. As this perspective has not been explored in the context of Maghreb countries, which also represent developing economies, this research endeavours to do so. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyse the extent to which the performance of competition agencies in Maghreb countries influences the enforcement of competition law.

This thesis proposes to determine the role of regulation that promotes competition in the telecommunications market in Chile. Regulation has been used in the telecommunications sector at different points in time to fulfil various market needs. Before liberalisation of the telecommunications market, regulation established the parameters of the state-owned telecommunications company. Later, regulations specified the rights and duties of the incumbent. Hypothetically, a higher degree of regulation is necessary to develop new markets, and once progress has been made, a lesser degree of rules is required. This heavier regulation has been called 'regulation for competition', ‘regulatory competition law’ or 'synthetic competition'. Instead, this research proposes the concept of ‘emulated competition’, which is useful to clarify the role of regulation as a mechanism to promote competition. To build the concept of ‘emulated competition’, the thesis reviews the relationship between sectoral regulation and competition law from a theoretical viewpoint. Subsequently, the thesis carries out a comparative analysis between the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) regarding the treatment of certain abuse of dominance cases, particularly with regard to ‘margin squeeze’. To study the Chilean model, the research reviews the constitutional framework of economic regulation and competition law, examining the evolution of pro-competition regulatory tools since the beginning of privatisation. Furthermore, the thesis analyses the case law and regulation issued by the Chilean competition authority in the same period. The analysed topic allows a review of how emulated competition operates in Chile. To sum up, competition law alone is not the best way to introduce competition in the telecommunications market. Therefore, sector-specific regulation has been used to promote competition. In some jurisdictions, it works together with competition law, such as in the EU and Chile. In others, they are incompatible, such as the US. Emulated competition rules could have a higher impact on competition law when they are complements. The research also proposes a model for considering non-economic objectives in competition law matters, and it is a breakthrough in the debate of how to incorporate them in such situations. Finally, the emulated competition concept provides a systematic way of dealing with the intended and unintended effects of pro-competition regulatory tools. The concept itself summarises the contribution to the literature.

European competition law originated after the end of the Second World War as a part of treaties instrumental to the European integration process and it evolved through secondary law and jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice from an international trade provision into its modern and truly general form. European Commission in it its endeavor to modernize competition law presents a review of the application of Article 82. The goal of the review is to base the policy on a sound economic framework, to aim on effects of abusive conduct rather than on its form and finally to focus mainly on the most important competition problems. This thesis advocates the necessity of an economic analysis while assessing the possible abuse of dominant position in concrete cases and therefore welcomes proclaimed goals of the review. Conversely it criticizes the insufficient fulfillment of these goals, which is in our view, mainly due to misunderstanding of the operation of market mechanism. Economics is in its most generalized form a complex science of purposeful human action. It is therefore not a toolbox, from which one could ad hoc take models or theories in order to assess the abuse of dominant position in real-world cases. This naive approach often leads authorities to make unsound or paradox rulings. We demonstrate the indispensability of correctly understanding the market mechanism in referencing the famous Microsoft case. Industries of the New Economy are characterized by strong network effects and a high portion of fixed costs, which makes the firms often compete "for the market" instead of "on the market". The corollary high market share is not in our view a manifestation of a monopoly position, which could be exploited using monopoly price. Modern economy explains how potential competition forces these highly efficient firms to continuously invest into new technologies and how it pushes down the price of final products. On the other hand, recourse to ad hoc doctrines or non adequate economic models may lead to erroneous assessment of abuse of dominant position.