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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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Arbitrability of Anti-competitive Agreements in the Law of the European Union
Pavelka, Tomáš ; Svoboda, Pavel (referee) ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
In the past, an Irish barrister and arbitrator James Bridgeman remarked that the arbitration of competition law is a meeting of two black arts. This perception has not changed since and yet, the adjudication of anti-competitive agreements in arbitration is an everyday event of real life. This thesis, after a brief summary of history of arbitrability of competition law, picks specific issues closely tied to current practical problems that arbitrators must face. First, whether arbitrators should consider themselves as being under obligation to raise competition issues of their own motion (ex officio) during arbitration proceedings, secondly, whether national courts of the EU Member States must automatically set arbitral awards in breach of competition rules aside and thirdly, whether arbitrators are in a good position to address complex antitrust questions properly and whether they can receive some help from the official competition authorities entrusted with primary enforcement of antitrust law. Mainly EU law will be covered here albeit with few brief excursions into particular problems of national law of the Czech Republic, to which this thesis endorses relevant solutions.
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New Approaches to Assessing Abuse of Dominant Position in relation to Standard Essential Patents in EU Competition Law.
Květoň, Robert ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Vondráčková, Aneta (referee)
1 NEW APPROACHES TO ASSESSING ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION IN RELATION TO STANDARD-ESSENTIAL PATENTS IN EU COMPETITION LAW ABSTRACT The present thesis deals with the assessment of abuse of dominance in relation to a Standard- Essential Patents as a globally developing phenomenon of recent years. The assessment of abuse of dominance is examined in the context of EU competition law, in particular in the light of recent decision-making practice of the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the EU. This thesis examines whether European competition law is close to finding a firm standard in assessing abuses of dominance by competitors who benefit from intellectual property rights from patents on standardised technology. This firm standard is specified in two ways. The first level is whether in EU competition law the unwillingness of the owner of the Standard-Essential Patent to license such a patent is considered as an abuse of a dominant position. On the second level, it analyses under which circumstances a negatory action brought by a Standard-Essential Patent owner against a licensee in bad faith can be considered as an abuse of his dominant position. In Chapter 2, the thesis introduces key concepts related to Standard-Essential Patents and standardisation. Chapters 3 and 4 analyse the decision-making...
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Consumer and its protection in EU competition law
Janiková, Karolína ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Exner, Jan (referee)
The submitted work concerns itself with the topic of protection of consumers and their welfare as an objective of the EU competition policy, as well as with the regulation of EU competition law and the way in which this objective has changed over time, both in fact and in legal perception. The first, theoretical, part of this thesis explains concepts essential for this analysis - the concept of "consumer" and its specifics in the context of the EU competition law, the definition of "consumer welfare" and the general relationship between consumer protection law and competition law. The second part deals with the historical development of consumer protection as an objective of EU competition policy. Particular attention is paid to the progress made in understanding the importance of this objective over time. An emphasis is placed on it in the political declarations of the Commission's representatives and subsequently, whether and how these political declarations and efforts were reflected in the actually adopted documents of competition law. This section therefore analyses the processes that formed the ideological basis for consumer protection under competition law and how they were reflected in formal sources of law. Although, at the doctrinal and political level, the parameter of consumer protection and...
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Leniency Program in the Anti-competitive Agreements in the EU Competition Law
Černochová, Veronika ; Boháček, Martin (advisor) ; Nováková, Tereza (referee)
The anti-competitive agreements are collusions concerning certain cooperation among undertakings. However, despite European Commission´s long-standing efforts, the prohibited ones are nowadays still present on markets in a large extent as well. This thesis characterizes both vertical and horizontal agreements, including their positive and negative effects. Since the negative impacts usually prevail in the horizontal (cartel) agreements, the related legislation under the terms of EU competition law is described including the conditions, under which these agreements can be approved (particularly the article 101 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, block exemptions and de minimis notice). In order to get access to the otherwise unobtainable evidence about their existence, the leniency program exists since 1996. Its European adaptation is compared to the version adopted in the Czech Republic and in the USA. The legal and economic effectiveness of this tool is analysed. Settlement procedure and prioritization are characterized as well, since they allow both the undertakings and the competition authorities to reduce their costs connected with the proceeding.
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State Aid and Financing of Transport Infrastructure under the EU law
Albrecht, Patrik ; Šmejkal, Václav (advisor) ; Svobodová, Magdaléna (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with state aid and financing of transport infrastructure under the EU law. The main aim of the thesis is to answer the question, whether the financing of transport infrastructure is a state aid and if it so, would it be compatible with the internal market. Member States have to ask these questions while they are deciding whether they should use public funds for specific infrastructural project in transportation industry. The thesis is divided into two main parts. In the first part author is focused on airport transportation industry, which has been liberalized since early 90's of 20th century. Thanks to the market opening the completion came in and Commission started to control financing of airport infrastructures. Airports were no longer recognized as an infrastructural facilities and their operators were found as an undertaking in the sense of competition judicature. That is why the first chapter is dealing with the historical excursus of state aid law in the field of aviation infrastructure. The author describes the fundamental decisions of Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union; a great focus is placed on analysis of the decision on the Leipzig- Halle case. In the third chapter of the first part, there is a deep analysis of the relevant documents...
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Arbitrability of Anti-competitive Agreements in the Law of the European Union
Pavelka, Tomáš ; Svoboda, Pavel (referee) ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
In the past, an Irish barrister and arbitrator James Bridgeman remarked that the arbitration of competition law is a meeting of two black arts. This perception has not changed since and yet, the adjudication of anti-competitive agreements in arbitration is an everyday event of real life. This thesis, after a brief summary of history of arbitrability of competition law, picks specific issues closely tied to current practical problems that arbitrators must face. First, whether arbitrators should consider themselves as being under obligation to raise competition issues of their own motion (ex officio) during arbitration proceedings, secondly, whether national courts of the EU Member States must automatically set arbitral awards in breach of competition rules aside and thirdly, whether arbitrators are in a good position to address complex antitrust questions properly and whether they can receive some help from the official competition authorities entrusted with primary enforcement of antitrust law. Mainly EU law will be covered here albeit with few brief excursions into particular problems of national law of the Czech Republic, to which this thesis endorses relevant solutions.
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Arbitrability of anti-competitive agreements in the law of the European Union
Pavelka, Tomáš ; Svoboda, Pavel (advisor) ; Šmejkal, Václav (referee)
In the past, an Irish barrister and arbitrator James Bridgeman remarked that the arbitration of competition law is a meeting of two black arts. This perception has not changed since and yet, the adjudication of anti-competitive agreements in arbitration is an everyday event of real life. This thesis, after a brief summary of history of arbitrability of competition law, picks specific issues closely tied to current practical problems that arbitrators must face. First, whether arbitrators should consider themselves as being under obligation to raise competition issues of their own motion (ex officio) during arbitration proceedings, secondly, whether national courts of the EU Member States must automatically set arbitral awards in breach of competition rules aside and thirdly, whether arbitrators are in a good position to address complex antitrust questions properly and whether they can receive some help from the official competition authorities entrusted with primary enforcement of antitrust law. Mainly EU law will be covered here albeit with few brief excursions into particular problems of national law of the Czech Republic, to which this thesis endorses relevant solutions.
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