Competition Law explains competition law and policy in the EU and UK. The intention is to provide the reader with an understanding of competition law and policy, to introduce the reader to key economic concepts, legal principles and tools in competition law, and to provide insights into the numerous different issues that arise when applying competition law to market behaviour. Describing the economic rationale for the law, the chapters consider the application of EU and UK competition law to various business practices, including cartels, cooperation agreements, distribution agreements, licences of intellectual property rights, joint ventures, and mergers. The text has been updated to include the changes to UK law as a consequence of Brexit. It discusses for the first time the rise of powerful digital platforms and the quest for a suitable competition law and regulatory response to this phenomenon. It also considers the implications of the European Green Deal and the sustainability agenda for EU competition law and practice. The text incorporates extensive new legislation, case-law, decisional practice, guidelines and periodical literature at EU and UK level.
Chapter
3. Article 101(1)
This chapter discusses Article 101(1) of the Treaty of Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits agreements, decisions by associations of undertakings, and concerted practices that restrict competition. It begins by explaining the meaning of ‘undertakings’ and ‘associations of undertakings’. It then considers what is meant by the terms ‘agreements’, ‘decisions’, and ‘concerted practices’, as well as what is meant by the phrase ‘have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction, and distortion of competition’. The chapter then deals with the de minimis doctrine, before explaining the requirement of an effect on trade between Member States. The chapter concludes with a checklist of agreements that, for a variety of reasons, normally fall outside Article 101(1).
Book
Richard Whish and David Bailey
Competition Law explains competition law and policy in the EU and UK. The intention is to provide the reader with an understanding of competition law and policy, to introduce the reader to key economic concepts, legal principles and tools in competition law, and to provide insights into the numerous different issues that arise when applying competition law to market behaviour. Describing the economic rationale for the law, the chapters consider the application of EU and UK competition law to various business practices, including cartels, cooperation agreements, exchanges of information, distribution agreements, licences of intellectual property rights, unilateral conduct, joint ventures, and mergers. The text has been updated to include changes to EU law on digital markets as a result of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. It also discusses the changes to UK law as a consequence of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, including the creation of a regulatory scheme for digital platforms having a ‘strategic market status’ and amendments to the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002. It also discusses the European Commission’s Guidelines on Vertical Restraints of 2022 and Horizontal Cooperation Guidelines of 2023, including its guidance on sustainability agreements. The text incorporates extensive new legislation, case-law, decisional practice, guidelines and periodical literature at EU and UK level.
Chapter
16. Vertical agreements
This chapter examines the application of Article 101 TFEU and the Chapter I prohibition in the UK Competition Act 1998 to distribution agreements. The chapter begins with a discussion of distribution chains in the modern economy, looking at the various ways in which producers market their goods or services to consumers; these have been enormously enhanced by the emergence of the digital economy. This is followed by sections on how the law applies to producers carrying on their own distribution function (‘vertical integration’), commercial agency and vertical sub-contracting relationships. It discusses the competition policy considerations raised by distribution agreements, and explains the application of Article 101 to various different types of distribution agreements. This is followed by a section on the provisions of Regulation 330/2010, the block exemption for distribution agreements, and the individual application of Article 101(3) to distribution agreements. The chapter then contains sections on Regulation 461/2010 on motor vehicle distribution. Finally, it deals with the application of the Chapter I prohibition in the UK Competition Act 1998 to distribution agreements.
Chapter
9. Competition Act 1998: substantive provisions
This chapter describes the substantive provisions of the Competition Act 1998 in the UK. The focus of attention in this chapter is the ‘Chapter I prohibition’, which prohibits anti-competitive agreements, and the ‘Chapter II prohibition’, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. The Chapter I and II prohibitions are closely modelled upon Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, although they are by no means identical in every respect. Following an overview of the Competition Act, and the changes introduced as a result of Brexit, it considers in turn the decisional practice and case-law under the Chapter I and Chapter II prohibitions. It then discusses the duty in section 60A of the Competition Act that sets out the principles to be applied in determining questions that arise in relation to competition within the UK with effect from 1 January 2021. The chapter also contains a table of all the decisions under the Competition Act to have been published on the website of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) since the ninth edition of the book in December 2017.
