|
|
Investigative powers of the competition authorities
Krempl, Adam ; Staša, Josef (referee)
The dissertation thesis is concerned with the investigative powers of the competition authorities, namely the European Commission and the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition. Essential investigative powers of competition authorities include requests for information, on-site inspections of business premises and other premises and sector inquiries. The competition authorities may use investigative powers in order to find evidence proving the violation of competition rules. One of the main aims of this thesis is to thoroughly analyze the current EU and Czech legislation concerning investigative powers of the competition authorities, including the relevant case law of EU and Czech courts. The main goal of the thesis is to define basic principles associated with investigative powers. These principles determine not only the direction of the legislation but also guide the steps of the competition authorities in specific cases. Most of these principles, which are superior to legal regulation, stems from the fundamental rights of investigated entities. The important part of this thesis will be a detailed analysis of the possibilities of defense of the investigated entities against misuse of investigative powers by the competition authorities. This thesis consists of eight chapters. Chapter One is...
|
|
|
Investigative powers of the competition authorities
Krempl, Adam ; Staša, Josef (referee)
The dissertation thesis is concerned with the investigative powers of the competition authorities, namely the European Commission and the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition. Essential investigative powers of competition authorities include requests for information, on-site inspections of business premises and other premises and sector inquiries. The competition authorities may use investigative powers in order to find evidence proving the violation of competition rules. One of the main aims of this thesis is to thoroughly analyze the current EU and Czech legislation concerning investigative powers of the competition authorities, including the relevant case law of EU and Czech courts. The main goal of the thesis is to define basic principles associated with investigative powers. These principles determine not only the direction of the legislation but also guide the steps of the competition authorities in specific cases. Most of these principles, which are superior to legal regulation, stems from the fundamental rights of investigated entities. The important part of this thesis will be a detailed analysis of the possibilities of defense of the investigated entities against misuse of investigative powers by the competition authorities. This thesis consists of eight chapters. Chapter One is...
|
|
|
Private enforcement of EU Competition Law
Albrecht, Patrik ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
1 Abstract Private enforcement of EU Competition Law Private enforcement of competition law is commonly understood as the possibility of seeking damages caused by anticompetitive behavior of undertakings before the courts of EU member states. The analysis of a right to seek the antitrust damages and its development is based on decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as preparatory works on the Directive 2014/104/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 November 2014 (the "Directive"). The first chapter describes the development of the new fully recognized branch of competition law within the EU. The CJEU has focused on the interpretation of the principles of effectiveness and equivalence and the direct effect of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. The second chapter includes the analysis of a total of four research questions such as who may be the claimant or the defendant, which court has a jurisdiction and when the limitation period exactly starts to run. Answers to these questions provide injured persons with a higher degree of legal certainty in relation to enforcement of their rights. Also, the Directive and the Czech transposition legislation, including the already available case law of the CJEU, are critically analyzed. Collective protection of the rights and protection...
|
|
|
Private enforcement of EU Competition Law
Albrecht, Patrik ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
Private enforcement of EU Competition Law Abstract The topic of this Juris Doctor thesis deals with private enforcement of competition law, which is commonly understood as the possibility of seeking damages caused by anticompetitive behavior of undertakings before the courts of EU member states. The author describes the development of the right to seek the antitrust damages in the first part of his thesis. This deep analysis involves an exhaustive presentation of key decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union, accompanied by the analysis of the preparatory work on the Directive 2014/104/EU. The latter includes synthesis of numerous comments drafted and issued by member states, national competition authorities and other stakeholders as well. Following the first part described above, the author carefully examines the whole text of adopted Directive 2014/104/EU and describes its transposition. There was created a new fully recognized branch of competition law within the EU, which doesn't replace or threaten both the EC and NCA public enforcement of competition law. Moreover, these private antitrust damages actions serve as a complement of a public-law sanction. The European private damages directive establishes certain new procedures and law institutes, all of which are thoroughly analyzed and...
|
|
|
Buyer Power and its Abuse in European Law
Musil, Aleš ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
This rigorosum thesis entitled "Buyer Power and its Abuse in European Law" deals with the analysis of buyer power in European law from the perspective of legal theory (part one - theoretical) and analysis of legislative aspects of the abuse (part two - practical). Attention is paid to the perspective of European law on the issue of buyer power and its abuse, both from the perspective of competition law and of the concept of buyer power, primarily pursuing objectives other than competition on the market. In my rigorosum thesis, I address the issue of market buyer power as a concept different from both market seller power and purchasing power, which refers to the extent to which consumers or firms have available money for spending and consumption. The concept of market power has in fact two branches - seller power and buyer power. In my thesis, I prove that (i) they cannot be viewed as a mirror image and (ii) that buyer power is an umbrella concept covering monopsony and bargaining power. Buyer power as the umbrella concept is a buyer's ability to exert pressure on its suppliers so as to lower prices or extract other concessions in two forms - monopsony and bargaining power. Monopsony power is an inefficient purchasing behaviour that involves withholding demand to decrease the purchasing price paid...
|
|
|
Franchising in the Context of Competition Law
Horáčková, Iva ; Horáček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Horáček, Vít (referee)
Thesis: Franchising in the Context of Competition Law Author: Iva Horáčková English Abstract In the paper called "Franchising in the Context of Competition Law", the author deals with a topic that has not yet been elaborated in detail in Czech legal science. As in Czech law, there is no special regulation regulating franchising, there are no more detailed studies that would address the individual issues of the franchise relationship. Franchising as a form of enterprise is being often used in the Czech Republic and the numbers of franchise chains operating here are increasing every year. Therefore, it may be assumed that urgent events from practice will generate a deeper interest of legal science in franchising in the future. In the introductory explanation, the author clarifies the essence of franchising and distinguishes the franchise contract from the variety of contracts regulated by the Civil Code. However, the main topic of this work is the conflict between franchising and competition law. The work examines the aspects of both public law and private law. The European Union's regulation is taken into consideration particularly in the analysis of individual issues related to the protection of competition. The interpretation is also amended by an overview of decisions passed by the European Court of...
|
|
|
Competition law aspects of technical standardization, use and protection of intellectual property rights
Pelcman, Lukáš ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Vondráčková, Aneta (referee)
Competition law aspects of technical standardization, use and protection of intellectual property rights Abstract The thesis deals with mutual relationship between intellectual property law and competition law in the context of technical standardization - i.e. process which gives rise to a significant number of potential conflicts between the two legal areas. It is analysed, in the context of technical standardization, in what way are subjective rights of intellectual property right owners limited by competition law regulation. It falls within the ambit of this thesis to evaluate whether respective legal framework fulfils necessary requirements on legal certainty and whether it is applied in the same manner to each undertaking, or if there are any discrepancies as to the application of the legal framework dependent on the kind of the undertaking. This thesis particularly concerns with competition law aspects of standardization in information and communication technology sector and selected issues related to use or protection of intellectual property rights in connection to article 101 and 102 TFEU. First chapter explains what the term technical standard entails, introduces de facto and de jure standards, describes the process of their creation and analyses potential effects of this process on the...
|
|
|
An Author's Right in the Information Society and Across the Internal European Union Market
Mikita, Peter ; Kříž, Jan (advisor) ; Srstka, Jiří (referee) ; Hendrychová, Michaela (referee)
Copyright law is a special category of civil law which, with the upswing of the Internet, has become important for different types of stakeholders in the global information society. The 'participative web' operates with content generated by users. This user-generated content has often disputable origins in terms of copyright clearance. The Internet has opened the possibility for developing new forms of communication between anonymous or individual users who are not easily identifiable. Especially peer-to-peer file sharing and recently the information services offered and operated by the so-called 'cyberlockers' are the reason of questioning the role of copyright protection online which needs a beneficial solution. Copyright infringement in the era of information society is a complex phenomenon with a multiplicity of contributing factors like the importance of information data with big business potential, personal attitudes shown by internet users towards the value and scarcity of intellectual property, or legal responsibility of internet service providers (ISP) who paradoxically act from the safety of the so-called safe harbours as intermediaries of information exchange, representing a new element in the communication chain between rights holders and users. Commercial and business models operating...
|
|
|
Cross-border Anti-competitive Agreements
Tupá, Kristýna ; Pauknerová, Monika (advisor) ; Rozehnal, Aleš (referee) ; Zahradníčková, Marie (referee)
1 ABSTRACT Cross-border Anti-competitive Agreements Functional market mechanism, as an essential element of a market economy, is a prerequisite for the economic prosperity of advanced democratic states. A completely crucial element of its functionality is free competition, the protection of which is regulated by competition law. However, competition does not apply consistently across all sectors. In this thesis I focuse on its application within the financial services area. This sector`s nature is very specific because we must always strive to maintain financial stability when implementing any measures. How should legislation respond to these aspects respond and how should the competition policy itself be shaped? Is regulation of this area necessary or does the competition intself represent a thread to the financial stability of the system? In order to fully understand the specifics of this area, it is firstly necessary to become familiar with the economic aspect of competition law and the nature of these white-collar crimes. Consequently, I will focus on the application of the competition law on financial services, taking into account new technologies and their influence on the structure of this market. The impact of competition on the banking sector is one of the core parts of this thesis. Based on an...
|
|
|
Disclosure of evidence in relation to an action based on competition law infringements.
Růžek, Mikoláš ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Kunertová, Tereza (referee)
Disclosure of evidence in relation to an action based on competition law infringements Abstract This thesis is about private competition law enforcement and its procedural aspects. The topic is analyzed in the context of transposition of the Directive on actions for damages for competition law infringements into Czech law. Specifically, the thesis analyzes disclosure of evidence in the context of information asymmetry between parties to a civil litigation. Information asymmetry is being understood in the thesis as a situation in which the information relevant for case of one party to a dispute is controlled by the other party, while latter does not have any incentive to introduce this information to the proceedings. Solution to this issue is analyzed by comparison with the solution utilized in the US system, which is unique in its reliance on private enforcement. The thesis firstly introduces possible solutions to information asymmetry in the civil procedure and notes advantages and disadvantages of each solution. It also discusses the way these different solutions affect cost effectiveness of the proceedings. The thesis then continues to discuss American discovery in more detail; it describes its evolution and its criticism. After this introduction of the American system, the thesis moves on to discuss the...
|
guest ::
