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Analysis of the institute of extraordinary circumstances, or the curtailment of air passenger rights: Theory practice and future development
Bartošík, Lukáš ; Exner, Jan (advisor) ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
Title of the writing: Analysis of the institute of extraordinary circumstances or abbreviation of air passenger rights: Theory, practice and future directions Abstract Air passengers have a number of rights against air carriers under EU law. One of these rights is the right to a flat-rate compensation in the event of cancellation or significant delay of a flight. Cancellations or significant delays can be caused by a wide variety of circumstances. If these circumstances are extraordinary and could not have been prevented by the carrier using all reasonable measures, passengers are not entitled to compensation and the carrier is thus relieved of its obligation. Extraordinary circumstances in air transport are very often applied in practice as a means of relieving the carrier of its obligation to pay damages to air passengers. Unfortunately, this remedy is enshrined in the legislation in a very vague and indeterminate manner, in the form of vague legal terms. It can therefore be abused in practice to the detriment of passengers. The Court of Justice of the European Union, in the context of the preliminary ruling procedure, does interpret the institute, but again using general and vague terms, which requires further specification by means of further preliminary questions. This paper aims to explain the meaning...
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SAP Reporting with the Use of In-memory Database
Smejkal, Václav ; Klusák, Aleš (referee) ; Luhan, Jan (advisor)
The master's thesis deals with the in-memory database SAP HANA which keeps all data directly in main memory with the use of column-oriented data layout. Practical part of the thesis consists in development of application in SAP R/3 environment, with which performance of the in-memory database SAP HANA and the traditional database MaxDB is compared, including influence of used data layout. The results show that the in-memory database is advantageous especially for analytical operations based on aggregate functions.
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Merger regulation of killer acquisitions under European competition law in European and international comparison
Jakob, Sebastian ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
1 English abstract Merger regulation of killer acquisitions under European competition law in European and international comparison Collen Cunningham, along with her colleagues, introduced a novel theory of harm known as a "killer acquisition" in her paper titled "Killer Acquisitions." A killer acquisition involves an already well-established market player acquiring a potential competitor with the intent to discontinue the acquired innovation project. The primary objective of such an acquisition is to eliminate potential competition that might arise from the innovative project of the acquired competitor. Typically, the potential targets of such scenarios are innovative start-ups that do not generate sufficient turnover to trigger the notification threshold employed in the EU, which relies solely on the turnover of merging parties. As a result, the European Commission sought other ways to assert jurisdiction over such transactions, most notably through the utilization of Article 22 of the Merger Regulation. However, it is argued that the current system of merger control at the European level is not bulletproof and a potential enforcement gap necessitating an amendment of the Merger Regulation exists. Consequently, several alternative criteria have been analysed, namely, the market-share test used in Spain...
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Consumer interests in the regulation of Internet gatekeepers in EU and US competition law
Novák, Matyáš ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
Consumer interests in the regulation of Internet gatekeepers in EU and US competition law Abstract This thesis focuses on the regulation of Internet gatekeepers in EU and US competition law. The aim of the thesis is to compare the rules and legislative proposals on the regulation of Internet gatekeepers from the perspective of protecting the interests of end consumers. The structure of the thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the topic of the thesis. The second chapter offers a brief insight into the relationship between competition law and consumers. This chapter outlines the history of competition law and the consumer in a broader and narrower sense. The second chapter then defines the various consumer interests that are protected by EU and US competition law - price, choice, quality and innovation. The third chapter introduces the individual pieces of legislation examined, namely the European Digital Markets Act and the US federal bills American Innovation and Choice Online Act, Platform Competition and Opportunity Act, Ending Platform Monopolies Act, ACESS Act of 2021, and Open App Markets Act. The fourth chapter is devoted to the actual content of the gatekeeper regulation under review. This chapter is organized into 20 subchapters, 19 of which address the...
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State aid in the Field of Healthcare
Červinka, Jaroslav ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Vondráčková, Aneta (referee)
1 State aid in the Field of Healthcare Abstract Health care in modern welfare states of the European Union member countries requires financing from public sources. However, member states also prohibit most forms of state aid in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The interpretation of the primary law in the decisional practice has confirmed in a long-term, that in the healthcare sector the competitive environment clashes with the public financing aspect. The Court of Justice and European Commission have repeatedly found ways how to deal with such a conflict. This thesis analyses court's case-law and the practice and soft law documents of European Commission, to establish which solutions are functional for the healthcare field, and which questions remain opened. For that purpose, it especially focuses on the exception for services of general economic interest according to Article 106 Paragraph 2 of the TFEU and on the interpretations of the term undertaking and the terms favouring and distortion of competition, contained in the definition of prohibited state aid. In the explored cases, the decision practice differentiates social funds lead by the principle of solidarity from the undertakings, which are subjected to EU competition law regulation. The traits of a social fund are mandatory...
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Gun-jumping and EU merger control
Kregl, Jan ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Pítrová, Lenka (referee)
Gun-jumping and EU merger control Abstract This thesis deals with the issue of gun-jumping under the EU Merger Regulation. On the EU level of competition law, gun-jumping is an infringement of the obligation to notify a concentration and the obligation not to implement such concentration before receiving Commission's clearance. Gun-jumping was, for a long time, a marginal and undeveloped topic within the context of EU competition law. However, over the years, the Commission has significantly tightened its grip over the undertakings that do not respect the basic principles of EU merger control procedures and imposed heavy penalties for such infringements. Over the last few years, gun-jumping has thus become one of the leading issues within the EU competition law. This thesis sets the objective to examine the evolution of the gun-jumping enforcement on the EU level. Furthermore, it aims to identify the various types of gun-jumping conduct from the undertakings' point of view and their subsequent assessment by the Commission. Finally, the thesis also seeks to identify the problematic and unclear areas of gun-jumping and the possible clarifications to be made by the Commission. To achieve these objectives, the author researches the academic literature on gun-jumping and examines the decision-making practice of...
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Revisting EUMR Jurisdictional Thresholds - Potential Tools to Establish Jurisdiction over Killer Acquisitions and other Low - Turnover Concentrations
Žáček, Kryštof ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Exner, Jan (referee)
of a diploma thesis - Kryštof Žáček Revisiting EUMR Jurisdictional Thresholds Potential Tools to Establish Jurisdiction over Killer Acquisitions and other Low-turnover Concentrations In 2021, the European Commission issued its Guidance on the application of referrals under Article 22 of the European Merger Regulation, aiming to allow merger control over killer acquisitions and other low-turnover concentrations. This thesis analyses this approach, in particular its ability to capture relevant concentrations, its impact on market participants and its implications for the European Union merger control regime. The analysis shows that this jurisdictional tool has merits but comes at a cost. The flexible conditions for a referral under Article 22, namely regarding the local nexus and the concept of "making known", allow the EU to assert jurisdiction over virtually every relevant low-turnover transaction, even opening the door to ex post merger review. However, the mechanism requires that competition authorities discover the concentration in the first place. The notifications introduced by the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation mitigate this, but competition authorities should develop other ways of obtaining relevant information. The flexibility of Article 22 makes merger review...
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Collective Actions in Selected Legal Systems from a Consumer Protection Perspective
Nováčková, Daniela ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
Class Actions in Selected Legal Systems from a Consumer Protection Perspective The thesis is dedicated to the topic of collective actions in the new legislation at the EU level (contained in Directive 2020/1828 on representative actions1 ) and in the national legislation in selected EU Member States - the Czech Republic, Poland and Portugal. The aim of the thesis is to examine and evaluate which legislation on collective actions for damages is the most favourable for consumers in the selected EU Member States and thus provides the greatest level of legal protection for consumers. In the case of the Czech Republic, the legislation under examination is that contained in the Draft Act on collective proceedings,2 which has not yet been enacted into law. At the same time, the thesis examines whether the Directive on representative actions at all provides EU Member States with a legal framework allowing them to set up national legislation on collective actions in the most consumer-friendly way. The structure of the thesis is divided into 9 chapters. The Introduction is followed by Chapter 2, which starts by introducing some basic terms in the field of collective actions, such as collective action, opt-in and opt-out systems, etc., of which the understanding is essential for the following chapters....
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EU Competition Law analysis of football transfer fees
Subhan, Adam ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
EU Competition Law analysis of football transfer fees Abstract: In this master's thesis, I assess the compliance of the transfer fees used in football with EU Competition law. I submit that the transfer fee system in its current state is a decision of an association of undertakings that is not compliant with Article 101 TFEU due to the restriction it imposes on the player supply market. This restriction prevents small market clubs to recruit good players and compete with large market clubs. I argue that the restriction cannot be justified under the Meca-Medina framework since it does not achieve the alleged objectives. The system is not inherent in pursuit of improvement of competitive balance at all. Even though it is inherent to promotion of youth development, it goes beyond what is necessary, and as such is disproportionate to the restriction is causes. The system neither qualifies for the exception of Article 101(3) TFEU, since it does not result in any efficiencies. However, I suggest that the effects of the transfer fee system cannot be assessed in isolation, but rather in the context with other football regulation, especially revenue redistributive mechanisms and limits on spending. In this context, I found the transfer fee system to have an aggravating negative impact on competitive balance because....
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Transposition of Energy Communities into Czech Law
Pešková, Michaela ; Říha, Michal (advisor) ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
Transposition of Energy Communities into Czech Law - abstract The main topic of the presented diploma thesis is the legal concept of energy communities and its transposition into Czech law. The term "energy communities" means both citizen energy communities according to the Directive (EU) 2019/944 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on common rules for the internal market for electricity and amending Directive 2012/27/EU and renewable energy communities as defined by the Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. None of the mentioned directives has yet been fully transposed in the Czech Republic, although the transposition deadlines in both cases have already passed. The first chapter of the diploma thesis discusses the transposition of EU directives in general and from a theoretical point of view, including transposition methods and a description of the process of transposition of directives at the national level. The second chapter deals with the EU legal provisions regulating the energy communities themselves. Common characteristics, as well as basic differences between both types of energy communities, are identified, including the consequences of these differences for...
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