EU Competition Policy Flashcards
What treaty drove competition policy
Treaty of Rome, but overtime has been updated within the Treaty of Lisbon
Role of competition policy
Ensure competition in a common market is not distorted
What is compulsory for SEM functioning
Competition policy - as SEM allows less and larger firms, they have more power and so policy must ensure firms don’t misbehave
Q
Q
From a firm perspective, 2 possible responses to the SEM
Firms act competitively
Firms react defensively and inhibit success of the SE,
Key: firms within SEM may be more globally competitive but may act uncompetitively in the EU
Horizontal cooperation
Merging between companies of the same sector
Sotheby’s & Christies case relating to an anti-competitive agreement (horizontal cooperation)
Tried to collude horizontally (auction houses) ,
Leniency programme
Improves efficiency - giving evidence/whistleblowing removes liability , and so Christie’s snitched and Sotheby’s fined 6% turnover.
Nintendo - exclusive territories
Vertical cooperation - worked with suppliers to prevent product being sold in Germany, Prevented people buying product in Britain and to undercut and sell in Germany.
This was wrong to do as it interrupted free market and were fined.
Example of cartels
Premier League
Premier league case
Cartel - fixing price of the TV deals, 20 clubs acting as one.
Why was their cartel allowed to carry on?
Allows competitive balance. To ensure sustainability of the league and prevent excessive dominance.
Explicit prohibitions example
Price fixing
Output fixing
Market sharing agreements (e.g sugar cartel in 1970s)
Tied contracts
Are foreign firms covered if their EU trade is affected by anti-competitive behaviour
Yes
Relationship between risk of collusion and number of firms in a market
More firms, less collusion
Less firms, more collusion