Protection of Economic Competition - Agreements Distorting Competition The topic of this thesis is agreements distorting economic competition, traditionally referred to as cartels. Cartels are various forms of explicit and implied agreements among participants in economic competition which are capable of affecting the competition in a negative way and result not only into damaging other competitors, but also mostly into damaging the consumers. The main purpose of this thesis is to present a comprehensive view on the issues of agreements distorting economic competition from the point of the Czech and European substantive legal regulation and take into account some aspects of their practical assessment. Another purpose was to evaluate the alternatives of sanctioning of the prohibited agreements, both public enforcement and private enforcement of claims of the subjects that suffered loss resulting from the agreements. A partial purpose was to suggest possible future regulation of chosen areas. Chapter One is an introduction and includes delimitation of aims of the thesis. Chapter Two deals with the essence of the agreements and the concept itself. It also explains briefly, which particular impacts can these agreements practically have. Chapter Three delimits the boundary between the illegal cartel...

The aim of this thesis named "Protection of Economic Competition - Agreements to Obstruct Competition" is to analyse a theme of agreements distoring economic competition at the point of view of a substantive law of the Czech Republic and European Union. These agreements oftenly called as cartels represents one of the most dangerous anti-competitive practicies that leeds to a monopolization of free markets and in consequence of that to a damage of other undertakings and even consumers. This area of law is typical for its generality when the essential influence is reserved for a judicature. For that reason there is layed a great emphasis on the decisions of the European Commission, courts and also national competition authorities in this thesis. The soft law regulation by means of various White books and Notices issued by the European Commission and national competition authorities is not neglected. In Chapter One there is an introduction to this thesis. Chapter Two concentrates on the theme of agreements to obstruct competition in general. It describes a nature of the agreements and their elemental features and outlines a history of this therm. Chapter Three illustrates a relationship between the agreements and other anti- competite practicies - abusing of a dominant position and mergers and pointed...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006. / Prepared for: Dept. of Health Administration. Bibliography: leaves 239-260. Also available online.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

1 Abstract Block exemptions are very specific institute of competition law but although they have existed in European law for many decades, their application is not well-known in public. Certain activities in an economic competition were generally considered distorting the free competition and thus being undesirable so the EU institutions decided to prohibit them unless otherwise provided. The cartels and state aid generally bring imbalance and unfair conditions in the internal market, but there are certain circumstances which justify their usage and allowance in some cases. The actions, which are allowed due to their specific circumstances and under certain conditions, are provided in the form of so called block exemptions. Block exemptions are issued in two areas of competition law, agreements between undertakings and state aid. Agreements between undertakings, i.e. cartels, which affect the business in the internal market, are prohibited by Art. 101 (1) TFEU and the block exemptions determine the categories of cartels which can be allowed. On the other side, the state aid is only considered as incompatible with the internal market in Art. 107 (1) TFEU. According to Art. 108 (1, 3) TFEU, the Commission has to be notified by Member States about every state aid which is scheduled to be provided in advance...

This research analyses the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships in enhancing governance to promote sustainable peace and security. It uses a case study of coltan exploitation and armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the two wars between 1996 and 2003 and the ongoing conflict have led to the ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’. The current body of knowledge on conflict analyses, particularly ‘resource curse’ theory, emphasises the natural resource endowment and weak governance as the main factors contributing to the DRC conflict, and has been influential in policy formulation. The case study is supported by the collection and analysis of qualitative data from multiple sources using different methods including literature reviews, interviews and observations. In so doing, the research seeks to examine how multi-stakeholder partnerships can help to enhance governance and promote sustainable peace and security, with a focus on the role of the multi-stakeholder partnerships in curtailing revenues for the belligerents from coltan production and trade in the eastern DRC. The analysis of the conflicts and coltan exploitation revealed the intricate multi-layered nature of the conflicts in the DRC and their complex causalities. The examination of the multi-stakeholder partnerships relevant to coltan exploitation in the DRC identified a number of constraints for their implementation and concerns about adverse effects from the implementation, largely owing to the externally driven agenda of the partnerships, which neglects the local perspectives. Through the arguments presented in this thesis, the research contributes to knowledge in three broad areas: it contributes to ongoing academic discussions on conflict analyses, in particular the resource curse hypothesis and the economic agendas of civil war; it provides empirical analysis and data on the coltan industry and partnership initiatives in relation to armed conflicts in the eastern DRC; and it highlights the need to re-assess the concept of participatory governance as one of the key approaches to improving governance.

The aim of my thesis is to analyse regulation of electronic communication market with regard to competition law aspects. Electronic communication sector of nowadays globalized world is developing rapidly and represents a precondition for the economic growth. Due to the characteristics of a network industry and the fact that this sector was regulated historically by monopoly firms owned by the state, the purpose of this paper is to identify which difficulties this market has to face through the dualistic regulation. To secure a fair competition with equal conditions for competitors operating electronic communication networks or providing electronic communication services is not an easy task, nevertheless it's essential for the welfare of the consumers. My thesis is composed of six main chapters. In the first one, I provide the definitions of the main terms which are related to this topic. Moreover, I focus on the characteristics of the electronic communication sector and integrate the topic into the historical context. In particular, I describe the beginning of the liberalisation of this sector and provide an outline of the harmonisation process which is represented by the legal provisions adopted by the European Union. Second and the most extensive chapter is dedicated to ex ante regulation which...

This diploma thesis deals with trademark in competition. It analyses the position of the trademark owner from the point of view of rights provided by the legal system in connection with his trademark ownership. The aim of the thesis is to answer the question which rights are granted to the trademark owner by the trademark law, which rights are granted to him by the unfair competition law and to depict mutual correlation of those two legal branches from the mentioned point of view. In order to achieve these targets the thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter deals with the trademark owner rights, where it analyses the regulation of these rights in Czech legal system, i.e. provision of act -No. 441/2003 Sb. on trademarks, considering European directives on trademarks (No. 89/104 and 2008/95/ES). This is followed by the judicature of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic and of the Court of Justice of the European Union explaining these legal provisions. The provisions of Council Regulation on the Community trade mark (No. 207/2009) and Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property are also mentioned. For the purpose of further explanation the second chapter brings an analysis of the competitor's protection by the unfair competition law from the provisions relevant for...

The goal of this diploma thesis is to compare trademarks in terms of their systemic and practical functioning not only in terms of economic competition and to identify pitfalls and formulate recommendations both practical and de lege ferenda. Trademarks and their institutes are also compared with other exclusive rights to labels. By way of their mutual comparison I attempt to find systemic and procedural differences in differing legislation and following that, attempt to identify aspects that could enrich either subsystem of rights to label. This thesis is divided into 6 chapters. In the opening chapter, I deal with the definition of key terms as well as the role of trademarks in industrial property rights. Following that I deal with mark law as enshrined in international law as well as the individual systems - national, European and international. The greatest attention is given to trademarks and their various aspects. An entire chapter is spent on their detailed exploration and analysis as well as their comparison with other rights to label. Recommendations, both practical and de lege ferenda are formulated based on this analysis. Attention is also given to the law enforcement of industrial property rights as well as the use of instruments of private law, especially as it concerns the right to...

Selected issues of unfair competition and legal protection against such conduct The purpose of my thesis is to analyse one of the most frequent unfair competition practice, the misleading advertising and the possibilities of legal protection against this practice. The thesis is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of unfair competition. The first chapter describes various attempts on the definition of the economic competition and explains the terms as economic aspect and benefit. The legal regulation of the economic competition includes direct and indirect regulation. Indirect regulation is based on exclusion of certain items or goods from the trading and on supervision of another category of items. Direct regulation is devided into antitrust law, that prevents elimination, restriction or another violation of economic competition, and into competition law, that prohibits the competitors from using unfair practices in the battle for customer. In the second chapter the unfair competition, its development and its subjects are covered. One of the most essential elements of an unfair competition, the "general clause" concept, is outlined in this chapter by characterization of its attributes and its relationship to special states of facts of an unfair competition. Certain...