Digital Single European Market and Competition Policy Flashcards
What is perfect competition? (according to Adam Smith)
A market in which no firm or consumer is large enough to affect the prices - efficient allocation of ressources
What is DG?
DG is ‘directorate general’ which refers to departments with specific zones of responsibility within the European Commission
what does DG competition do?
It has far reaching powers:
- can investigate companies
- can initiate new policy
- Acts as a prosecutor + judge + jury
What does it mean to abuse dominant position? (come with (5) examples)
It is not illegal to be in a dominant position, but it is illegal to abuse it
1) Tied selling
- When the vendor requires that u buy a second product (refusal to sell just one product)
2) Bundling
- ex. forcing consumers to buy items together
3) Exclusive dealing
4) Predatory pricing
5) Use of loyality discounts
What is a cartel?
A cartel is a group of similar, independent companies who ‘group’ together and fix prices (faste priser), limit production or development or to share markets/customers
There isn’t necessarily a formal agreement (it can simply be a ‘gentleman agreement’/a shake of hands) and it can therefore be difficult to legally ‘suspend’ these companies
- Therefore EU’s definition of cartels is very broad
What is a merger control? + French and Dutch opinions
Control of merging of companies lol
Mergercontrol: There is a debate whether companies should be allowed to merch so they can compete with the big firms from US and Japan ex.
- The french like these mergers, but more liberal governments such as the Dutch don’t like it, because the mergers could intervene with the competition in the european market
Very few mergers get blocked though
US antitrust vs EU competition law
The antitrust law in EU is younger than the US antitrust law
US antitrust (konkurrenceret):
- Law enforcement
EU competition law:
- Regulation
challenges for EU competition policy (digital market)
rethinking consumer market standard
rethinking market definition
Goals of the digital single market
better access for businesses and companies
advanced digital networks and innovative practises
Enhance the digital economy
Digital service Act - what is it, and what is it’s goals
(rules for digital platforms)
To foster a safe online environment
Transparency and accountability (companies being accounted for their actions)
The digital companies must finds ways to remove or prevent posts containing illegal goods, services, content as well as giving users a possibility to report this kind of content
what is Digital markets act? (DMA)
DMA regulates the companies (gatekeeper power)
Gatekeepers are large, digital platforms providing core platform services (messenger sevices, search engines)
- So: Limit dominating companies power over consumers and secure fair competition
What is GDPR? (and what does it do?)
General Data Protection Regulation
Harmonise data privacy law across MS - and providing general protection of individuals
GDPR is a strong set of data protection rules, that enhance how people can access information about them and places limits on what companies can do with personal data
