Application Of Competition Policy Research Articles

Ofcom’s record as a competition authority: an assessment of decisions in telecoms

ABSTRACT The instrument of concurrency, whereby UK regulatory authorities share and often, in practice, lead in the application of competition policy, is an important feature of the UK competition law regime. Several studies examined its pros and cons from a theoretical perspective. This is the first article to take a different approach and critically assesses Ofcom’s application of its concurrent competition law powers to the telecoms sector. This review identifies a number of shortfalls and provides several recommendations on how Ofcom could improve its record in applying its competition law powers to the telecoms sector to benefit consumers. This raises some serious questions as to whether concurrency improves the application of competition law.

Recent Developments at the CMA: 2019-2020.

We discuss three important cases that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has completed over the past year: First, the coronavirus pandemic has had implications for a wide range of the CMA’s work; we describe the work on price gouging conducted by the CMA’s Covid-19 taskforce and respond to the argument that competition authorities should not be concerned about such behaviour. Second, a number of high-profile studies have considered the appropriate application of competition policy in digital industries. The second two cases—the Online Platforms and Digital Advertising market study, and the Google/Looker merger—show the work the CMA has continued to do in this area.

Ofcom’s Record as a Competition Authority: An Assessment

The instrument of concurrency, whereby UK regulatory authorities share and often lead in the application of competition policy, is an important feature of the UK competition law regime. Several studies examined its pros and cons. This article takes a different approach and critically assesses Ofcom’s application of its concurrent competition law powers. Hence, concurrency is assessed by considering key cases in Ofcom’s sectors of competence. This review identified a number of shortfalls and provides several recommendations on how Ofcom could improve its record in applying its competition law powers to the sectors of its competence to benefit consumers, by: (1) improving the way in which Ofcom decides when to open an investigation; (2) reducing the probability of committing errors; and (3) providing effective and consistent guidance.

Ofcom’s Record As a Competition Authority: An Assessment of Decisions in Telecoms

The instrument of concurrency, whereby UK regulatory authorities share and often in practice lead in the application of competition policy, is an important feature of the UK competition law regime. Several studies examined its pros and cons. This article takes a different approach and critically assesses Ofcom’s application of its concurrent competition law powers to the telecoms sector. This review identifies a number of shortfalls and provides several recommendations on how Ofcom could improve its record in applying its competition law powers to the telecoms sector to benefit consumers.

Competition policy in the global era

ABSTRACTI discuss some of the implications of globalization to the design and application of competition policy. My analysis is divided into three different areas: price fixing, mergers and abuse of dominant position. I also consider the importance of China as an emergent player in the global competition policy arena.

Competition law in Pakistan: brief history, aspirations and characteristics

1This article highlights various aspects of competition law in Pakistan. It aims to give an account of the historical evolution of competition law in Pakistan over time, underscoring the salient characteristics of legislation; to identify the institutional structure in charge of applying competition policies, featuring its form, powers and functions; and to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory agency as a principal authority for the application of competition policies with the aim of preventing or remedying possible anti-competitive conduct. This article comprises five parts. Part I introduces the topic. Part II focuses on the different phases Pakistan’s competition law has passed through. Part III outlines salient features of the law. Part IV highlights the institutional framework with detailed working mechanism, powers and functions as revealed by the law. Part V contains concluding remarks necessary for effective enforcement of the law. 1

Harmonization of Competition Law in Globalized Economy and European Law

The article deals with the basic goal of competition law which is to guarantee effective functioning of market mechanism. Different application of competition policy in globalized economy can disturb economic competition more than support it. The article focuses on harmonization of competition law as one of the possible solutions of the problem of application of national competition law on cases crossing border of state. Since there is no global authority ordering to harmonize competition law, the article analyzes the reasons of harmonization, particularly showing which differences in national regulations can cause obstacles to global application of competition law. Secondly, it focuses on ways and strategies of harmonization, whereby searching for the most effective legal regulation and refusal of a global competition regulation in a form of international agreement can be considered as harmonization’s movers. The article stresses the particular position of the European competition law, which is a “national” law from the global view, but “federal” from the nation’s view, and follows how European law acts as a model for harmonization.

The application of competition policies and the development of regulation in the UK—an overview

The application of policies to promote competition in the UK over the past 30 years has been accompanied by growth in regulation of the industries concerned. Once regulation has been introduced, it is often long-lived. There is a tendency towards increased control by regulatory bodies through licence conditions and related Operating Codes. There is little sign of this trend being reversed even where competition has developed.

Competition Policy for Small Market Economies (review)

Reviewed by: Competition Policy for Small Market Economies Sujit K. Das Competition Policy for Small Market Economies, edited by Michal S. Gal, Harvard University Press, Pp 234, 2003. Competition policy in small economies is becoming increasingly important, since the number of small jurisdictions that have adopted a competition policy is rapidly growing. From the theoretical and practical aspects it is established that the economic activity and market power of the firms primarily vary across the size of the firm. But whether the optimal competition policy depends on the size of an economy is a very basic question to the economists and market agents. Whether and how firms compete is very much a matter of the natural conditions of the markets in which firms operate. Although several major economic studies have focused on the special characteristics of small economies, there has been no comprehensive attempt to evaluate the implications of these characteristics on competition policy in small economies. As international trade among countries is steadily rising, the question of the relevance of jurisdictional borders to competition policy is becoming important to economic policy makers. These issues, however, were discussed in other books in case of large economies. Merger policy now a day is highly important for small economies, as mergers are one of the main driving forces behind changes in concentrated market structures. The book by Michal Gal addressing the questions: 1) whether the size of an economy matters for competition policy and 2) how the size of the economy influences the content of its competition law. It raises many interesting and important observations about the application of competition policy in general and with respect to particular problems raised by small economies. In the introduction the author begins with definitions of market sizes and market structures to differentiate a small economy from a large one. He clearly explains how the competition for a small economy influences the economic theories and policies as a whole. A detail introduction of the topic at the beginning of each chapter provide the usefulness of the topic in particular and help understanding the aim and objective of the book in general. Considering the importance of the topic the author analyzes the merger policy in detail at the end of the book. The merger control policy is illustrated in the concluding chapter of the book. Moreover, a good conclusion of each chapter summarizes the findings and provides the author's comments correspondence to each topic. [End Page 181] Chapter I illustrates the key economic characteristics of small market economies. The only table in this chapter presents the relationship between concentration levels and population size of seven industrialized economies. Chapter II covers in general the implications of small size economies for competition policy. In this chapter the author explores the basic policy choices that need to be incorporated into competition policy in small economies. He argues that a small economy can not afford to be vague in setting its goal, but rather should set clear and determine goals that focus on achieving economic efficiency. The analyses extended to the following chapters of the book by the size of firms beginning with the mere monopoly, the natural monopoly, and the oligopoly market. In chapter III the author focuses on the choice of policy instruments necessary to regulate the economic power of single-firm dominance. Other than the analysis of different approaches to regulate mere monopoly the chapter also covers a nice discussion on different aspects of market power. The summary of this chapter is enriched with useful information on regulatory measures of mere monopoly adopted by different jurisdictions related to ten industrialized economies. The analyses of the special characteristics of natural monopolies and their implications for the regulation are incorporated in chapter IV. The chapter begins with the explanation of economic characteristics of natural monopolies followed by the analyses of the general regulations, regulation of monopoly prices, drawbacks, and the legal regimes of natural monopolies. The mail policy suggestions of the natural monopoly are summarized in the conclusion of this chapter. The second last chapter contains the regulation of oligopoly markets. The chapter is organized in two main parts. In the first part the author lays the foundation for...

Building an international identity: the EU and extraterritorial competition policy

The 1997 Boeing-McDonnell Douglas (BMD) merger is a remarkable case of international state-market interaction whereby the European Union (EU) intervened in a merger between two foreign firms. T his article offers an initial investigation into the development of the EU's international identity via the extraterritorial application of competition policy in the BMD case. Evidence from the case suggests that the EU's exercise of extraterritorial competition policy derives from reasonable objections to the merger, the practical desire co ensure market access opportunities for European firms and the need to enhance Union credibility in the eyes of member states. Evidence further suggests that when the EU's interests are exercised against a non-Union third party, the EU has greater opportunity to build an international identity. The article also assesses Union responses to the potentially destabilizing effects of extraterritorial competition policy by establishing bilateral agreements, lobbying for a multilateral regime, and encouraging informal co-operation.

In Defence of Competition: The Successful Application of Competition Policy in NSW Rail

This paper argues that recent rail reform in NSW has been successful. NSW rail is now not only more cost effective, but also offers improved service and safety levels to its customers. As such the NSW rail reforms have been of benefit to the community as a whole, and have laid the groundwork for a resugence of the rail sector. Despite the criticism surrounding recent job losses, it is argued that the reforms have reinvigorated an industry that had been caught up in an ever decreasing vicious circle. The success of the 1996 reforms have been dependent upon a reform model that mixes factors such as vertical separation and independent regulation with government provision of targeted community service obligation payments. This paper argues that the most important ingredient for rail's future is the removal of the enormous bias in government tax and user charging policy against rail and towards road transport. In addition to keeping faith with the traditional National Competition Policy agenda, nothing is more important than that Australian governments address this continuing and debilitating bias against rail transport.

Application of Competition Policy to the Electricity Sector

This publication (of 261 pages) represents the proceedings of a roundtable on the application of competition law and policy to the electricity sector that was held at the OECD in October 1996. The proceedings include submissions from 18 OECD countries outlining the regulatory regime for electricity in each country and competition issues that have arisen in this sector.