Restrictive Business Research Articles

International Co-operation on Competition Law Enforcement: A Breakthrough?

Section F of the UN Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices (‘UN Set’) deals with international measures, including consultations and co-operation among competition authorities for enforcement against anti-competitive practices, particularly for developing countries’ benefit. The 2020 Eighth Review Conference on the UN Set adopted Guiding Policies and Procedures under section F (‘GPP’). While it contains few norms, this non-binding instrument provides principles and a pedagogical guide for enforcement co-operation, encourages positive responses to co-operation requests, and strengthens the consultations mechanism and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) secretariat’s supporting role. The GPP’s siting within the UNCTAD and UN Set contexts provides legitimacy, inclusivity, mandates, resources, a secretariat – and thus the best available multilateral framework for developing and transition countries to mobilize publicity, dialogue, and persuasion to strengthen enforcement co-operation in this area for their benefit. The GPP therefore constitutes a breakthrough, while how far or when its potential will be fulfilled will depend upon the building-up of shared perceptions of common interest, mutual trust and mutual benefit among competition authorities- something which UNCTAD could promote through action at the national and international levels. Initial signs provide hope that good progress can be achieved. UN Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles, Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, enforcement against anti-competitive practices, UN 2020 Eighth Review Conference, Guiding Policies and Procedures, UNCTAD, multilateral framework, vertical restraints, enforcement cooperation, developing countries

Competitive Harm Crossing Borders: Regulatory Gaps And A Way Forward

Abstract This article analyses the current regulatory framework governing transnational restrictive business practices. It identifies key gaps that provide room for anticompetitive practices to flourish, causing cross-border transfer of wealth, typically from less affluent states. The economic harm caused by cross-border anticompetitive conduct is significant; international cartels alone caused overcharges exceeding $1.5 trillion in the period 1990–2016. This article offers a series of pragmatic policy recommendations that could narrow existing regulatory gaps. The proposals require no international negotiations and can be implemented domestically. They call for enabling of more assertive and robust extraterritorial enforcement of domestic competition laws and facilitation of positive externalities in that context.

Competitive Harm Crossing Borders: Regulatory Gaps and a Way Forward

This article analyses the current regulatory framework governing transnational restrictive business practices. It identifies key gaps that provide room for anticompetitive practices to flourish, causing cross-border transfer of wealth, typically from less affluent states. The economic harm caused by cross-border anticompetitive conduct is significant; international cartels alone caused overcharges exceeding $1.5 trillion in the period 1990-2016. This article offers a series of pragmatic policy recommendations that could narrow existing regulatory gaps. The proposals require no international negotiations and can be implemented domestically. They call for enabling of more assertive and robust extraterritorial enforcement of domestic competition laws and facilitation of positive externalities in that context.

Brief Appraisal of the Contribution of the UN Set of Multinational Agreed Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices 1980

Competition Law has adopted an international/global dimension overtime. One of the first notable attempts to globalize competition law among nations was the 1980 UN Set of Multinational Agreed Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices. Although a promise this international instrument was not adopted by states due to varied reasons ranging from: political, social and economic differences among states. This paper critically analyzes the rules by offering its advantages and disadvantages and whilst doing so the paper argues that for there to be complete harmonization of competition law there is need to have binding rules as non - binding rules tend to make numerous states reluctant in ratifying and committing themselves to international treaties. Will international harmonization of competition law remain a global dream?

Shifts in government business relations: Assessing change using the restrictive business registers in the OECD, 1945-1995

The varieties of capitalism framework highlights the governance of firms’ competitive behaviour as a key aspect of state-business relations. This article examines changes in the scope, intensity and transparency of cartel registers in 13 OECD countries in the half century following World War II. Quantifying these policy aspects over five decades using the OECD’s 2013 New Indicators of Competition Law and Policy reveals changes in government-business relations over time, with different approaches evident in each country. The results reveal complex interactions effect policy in each country and challenge a simple ‘Americanisation’ explanation for changes in cartel policy and the static typology of the VoC literature.

Europe investigates ethylene market

The European Commission says it carried out unannounced inspections on May 16 of European companies that purchase ethylene. The specialty chemical maker Clariant, for example, confirmed that it is under investigation. The EC says it is concerned that the companies might have violated antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices. Ethylene is a large-volume commodity used to produce polyethylene and many other petrochemicals.

A pedagogical walkthrough of computational modeling and simulation of Wnt signaling pathway using static causal models in MATLAB.

Simulation study in systems biology involving computational experiments dealing with Wnt signaling pathways abound in literature but often lack a pedagogical perspective that might ease the understanding of beginner students and researchers in transition, who intend to work on the modeling of the pathway. This paucity might happen due to restrictive business policies which enforce an unwanted embargo on the sharing of important scientific knowledge. A tutorial introduction to computational modeling of Wnt signaling pathway in a human colorectal cancer dataset using static Bayesian network models is provided. The walkthrough might aid biologists/informaticians in understanding the design of computational experiments that is interleaved with exposition of the Matlab code and causal models from Bayesian network toolbox. The manuscript elucidates the coding contents of the advance article by Sinha (Integr. Biol. 6:1034–1048, 2014) and takes the reader in a step-by-step process of how (a) the collection and the transformation of the available biological information from literature is done, (b) the integration of the heterogeneous data and prior biological knowledge in the network is achieved, (c) the simulation study is designed, (d) the hypothesis regarding a biological phenomena is transformed into computational framework, and (e) results and inferences drawn using d-connectivity/separability are reported. The manuscript finally ends with a programming assignment to help the readers get hands-on experience of a perturbation project. Description of Matlab files is made available under GNU GPL v3 license at the Google code project on https://code.google.com/p/static-bn-for-wnt-signaling-pathway and https: //sites.google.com/site/shriprakashsinha/shriprakashsinha/projects/static-bn-for-wnt-signaling-pathway. Latest updates can be found in the latter website.

The Long‐run Relationship Between Trade and Population Health: Evidence from Five Decades

AbstractIn recent years, the increase in international trade has sparked a debate about the impact of international trade on population health. To date, however, there has been very little econometric research on the relationship between these two variables. This paper examines the long‐run relationship between trade openness and population health for a sample of 74 countries over five decades, from 1960 to 2010. Using panel time‐series techniques, it is shown that international trade in general has a robust positive long‐run effect on health, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality. This effect tends to be greater in countries with lower development levels, higher taxes on income, profits, and capital gains, and less restrictive business and labour market regulations.

No More Free Lunch: Reflections on the Cuban Economic Reform Process and Challenges for Transformation ed. by Claes Brundenius and Ricardo Torres Pérez (review)

Claes Brundenius and Ricardo Torres Perez, eds. No More Free Lunch: Reflections on the Cuban Economic Reform Process and Challenges for Transformation. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer, 2014. 260 pp.Written by distinguished academics from Cuba and from outside the country, and informed by valuable insights and research expertise, No More Free Lunch is an impressive collection of scholarly chapters on the far-reaching economic transformations (officially labeled an update of the socialist model) that are taking place in Cuba under the leadership of Raul Castro. The volume offers fresh perspectives on a number of key subjects related to the reform process under way on the island, in particular the unprecedented changes in agriculture, the opening to small private enterprises and the authorization of nonagricultural cooperatives, the promotion of foreign direct investment, the abolishment of food rationing and the elimination of monetary duality, the massive layoffs of public employees and the overhaul of the business model of state firms, and cutbacks in state subsidies and gratuities. The structural problems of today's Cuban economy and the main challenges facing Havana's policy makers are also analyzed, along with the reform experience of other countries like China and Vietnam, to draw potential lessons for Cuba. The result is a rigorous intellectual project that sheds substantial light on the Cuban government's attempts to devise a new economic model aimed at unleashing productive forces, reducing the notorious inefficiencies of the existing socialist system, improving living standards, and fostering sustainable development.Taken as a whole, Raul Castro's economic reforms are well conceived and quite significant. Some of the structural market-oriented changes recently introduced in Cuba would have been unimaginable just a few years ago when Fidel Castro ruled the country. However, several major problems continue to affect the Cuban economy, above all the overreliance on exports of professional services with very few backward linkages, insufficient agricultural production and the meager performance of the manufacturing industry resulting in high levels of food imports and a persistent trade imbalance, little capital accumu- lation and chronic liquidity shortages, the underutilization of human capital, and a restrictive business environment. The contributors do not shy away from pointing out these problems and suggesting deeper reforms to tackle the shortcomings of Cuba's state-dominated and highly centralized economy.Garcia Alvarez and Nova Gonzalez call for a more decentralized agricultural management model and a greater presence of market forces in driving production and distribution activities. Torres Perez recommends the implementation of policy measures specifically designed to boost higher levels of domestic integration (especially between the agricultural and industrial sectors) and to stimulate more complex and knowledge-intensive productive capacities with the involvement of small private businesses and cooperatives. Monreal also suggests a reorientation of Cuba's highly trained workforce in career paths with increasing technological learning and argues that nonstate entrepreneurs could make a significant contribution to export diversification and development. …

Особенности правового регулирования лицензионных договоров о предоставлении права использования товарного знака

The article examines current legal problems which arise in connection with trade mark license contracts. In the contemporary business environment a problem of liability for non-ensuring quality control under trade mark licensing law has become increasingly important. Restrictive business practices and regulation of parallel import is another concern. Authors analyze not only provisions of the substantive law but also legal regulation of the relevant issues concerning the conflict of laws rules. The article also tackles a major problem in the sphere of international private law: correlation of lex contractus and lex loci protectionis connecting factors. Lex contractus covers contractual aspects of the trade mark license such as contract interpretation, mutual obligations of the parties, their performance, discharge and consequences of breach thereof. And lex loci protectionis governs non-contractual aspects such as existence, validity and protection of the right to the trade mark itself. Sometimes it is difficult to label certain issues, like the licensee’s allowed continued use of the mark after the termination of the license, as contractual or non-contractual. The article offers comprehensive analysis of all these questions on the basis of the most recent legislation, court practice and doctrines, both Russian and foreign.

Concept and Different Types of Restrictive Business Practices in the Legal Orders of BRICS Countries (The Case of China, India, Russia and South Africa)

The articles represents a research of general approaches of BRICS countries legislation and legal order to counteraction against leading anticompetitive market strategies with regard to legal orders of China, India, Russia and South Africa. The author pays particular attention to current legislation of BRICS countries in the field of competition protection with regard to provisions related to “horizontal” and “vertical” restrictions of trade, concerted practices, deceptive conducts and collusions, unfair sales techniques, pricing and selling strategies. This article argues that our society is interested in the engagement of a population in trade and industrial activity. This is the general rule. Nowadays, however, this rule allows exceptions: restrictions of a freedom of trade can be justified by exceptional circumstances in certain cases and under certain circumstances.

Institutional Aspects of International Competition Policy

Abstract A global economy cannot be driven in a consistent way by national competition laws. Both the liberalization of markets and the revolution in information and communication have triggered an unprecedented degree of interrelations of national economies. This leads to the internationalization of restrictive business practices. Despite of the WTO efforts and some agreements inside it related with antitrust, global markets have no competition rules. There are a number of economic arguments addressed to take real steps in order to establish a global framework for competition policy. Currently, the international system of competition policy seems gradually ill-suited for dealing with transnational restrictive business practices. The issue is now which organizational form and what degree of decentralization would be optimal for a multilevel system of international competition policy. Depending on the goals of the project, different degrees of decentralization would be more or less desirable.

Technology Contracts in Brazil: The Patent Office Screening Rôle

Since the late 60's, Intellectual Property licenses and other technology contracts have been subject to Government screening in Brazil. Initially such analysis concerned the tax and exchange aspects of such agreements; eventually the screening of restrictive business practices was included. When the INPI (Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office) was created in 1970, the powers to screen such contracts were delegated to the new agency, and new discretionary powers, including the possibility of rejecting the agreement on the basis of Brazilian industrial policy, were added to the prior ones. A Supreme Court Case declared the news powers constitutional. According to the 1996 Industrial Property Law, the discretionary powers were excluded from INPI purview. This study describes the present scope of the INPI enablement in connection to such agreements, including the case law related to the issue. Although now deprived from discretionary powers, the Brazilian PTO has kept an extensive role, and the exact understanding of such Governmental action may be particularly important to some investment decisions regarding Brazil.

Restrictive Business Practices and Competition in the European Economic Community

Restrictive Business Practices and Competition in the European Economic Community

The Political Role of Transnational Experts in Shaping EU Competition Policy: Towards A Pan-European System of Private Enforcement

AbstractRegulation 1/2003, applicable since 1 May 2004, has been one of the most far-reaching EU competition policy reforms in the history of European integration. The long-standing centralised administrative ex ante notification regime for commercial intercompany agreements was replaced by a decentralised ex post private enforcement regime. This essentially altered the way in which anticompetitive conduct, such as cartels and other restrictive business practices, are prosecuted. Companies can no longer rely on the official Commission decision prior to concluding contractual agreements with other companies, but are increasingly exposed to the risk of being litigated by other market actors in civil disputes, a jeopardy that, so far, has constituted a relatively alien feature in the EU. The 2004 reform reflects a major step of legal convergence towards the US antitrust regime, which has private enforcement as one of its most characteristic features. Regulation 1/2003, however, formed only the prelude of fur...

Restrictive Business Practices by Japanese Attorneys and Competition Policy

Restrictive Business Practices by Japanese Attorneys and Competition Policy

Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Bhutan

Over 98 per cent of the Bhutanese private sector consists of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and it is invariably believed that they would play a central role in fostering entrepreneurship development, providing employment and reducing poverty. However, there are several difficult challenges facing Bhutanese SMEs. This article analyses the constraints on SMEs in Bhutan by conducting interviews and a nationwide questionnaire survey of 168 micro and small firms. The findings indicate that the biggest constraints are related to restrictive business regulations, finance and infrastructure. Additionally, significant differences in the severity level of constraints between urban and rural districts are observed with regards to size, sector and ownership. Even within the SMEs, the segregation approach generated an altogether different portrayal of their distinctive needs. Our findings clearly suggest lack of government support to the SMEs. The article concludes that the Royal Government of Bhutan needs to promote the growth of SMEs through demand-driven and specifically targeted policies for urban and rural districts, based on their idiosyncratic needs.

THE THIRD NOEL BUTLIN LECTURE: AUSTRALIAN EXCEPTIONALISM REVISITED

In the late‐nineteenth century, Australia had one of the highest levels of income per capita in the world. Over the twentieth century, Australia's exceptional position declined as its high labour force participation rate and male‐skewed gender ratio gradually aligned with other countries. A similar reversion occurred in the other important components underlying Australia's high productivity, such as work hours. As the structure of the economy shifted away from a reliance on agricultural and towards manufacturing, Australia's protective attitude and restrictive business practices may have exacerbated its loss in productivity. Considerable research remains to be carried out to confirm these views.

The Effects of Restrictive Business Practiceson Australian Inbound Package Tourism

International visitors to Australia on package tours have expressed concern about aspects of their holiday experience. These aspects relate to restrictive business practices on the part of inbound tour operators. The origin markets most affected are China, Korea and Taiwan in particular, and, to a lesser extent, Japan. This paper first sets out the nature of the restrictive business practices and then discusses their underlying causes. It then estimates their effects on visitor satisfaction and the impact of this on future package tourism flows to Australia from the identified markets. Finally, some estimates are made of the economic costs of the practices. It is argued that Australia will benefit from the development of quality tours rather than persisting with the price driven tours currently on offer within these markets.

The World Trade Organization and its Powers to Adopt a Competition Policy

The costs and benefits of adopting a multilateral competition policy agreement have been widely discussed for several years. However, the legal competence of the WTO to undertake that task, as an international organization, has not enjoyed the same level of debate. This article explores that question, which underlies the mentioned normative debate. Relying on neoclassic competition theory and on different elements of international institutional law, the article argues that the WTO, as structured today, has the power to address only anticompetitive practices that hinder market access. It presents also a historical annex, referring documentary evidence of the discussion of Restrictive Business Practices under GATT 1947.