Standardisation and the Commission’s new horizontal guidelines
- By Marcus Glader, Vinge
The European Commission is currently preparing new guidelines for the assessment of horizontal cooperation agreements under Article 101 TFEU. A draft was presented for public consultation in May this year and the final version is expected before year’s end. The section on standardisation agreements has been updated in the light of recent experiences (such as Rambus, Qualcomm and IPCom). Here are a few thoughts on this controversial part of the Commission’s draft:
- Similar to the current (2001) Horizontal Guidelines, the new draft adopts a “safe harbour approach”, outlining requirements under which cooperation on standards would generally not result in a restriction of competition an [...]
Concerted practices, greyhounds, swans and alcoholmeters
Adam Smith wrote in the Wealth of Nations that “two greyhounds, in running down the same hare, have sometimes the appearance of acting in some sort of concert. Each turns her towards his companion, or endeavours to intercept her when his companion turns her towards himself. This, however, is not the effect of any contract, but of the accidental concurrence of their passions in the same object at that particular time”.
With this example the great economist taught us that oftentimes appearances are misleading and it would be foolish to attempt to find a concurrence of wills where there is simply chance, survival instinct or adaptation to the prevailing circumstances.
A European national [...]
Global Competition
With the recent adoption of competition law statutes in East and South Asia and reforms completed or under way in Latin America, among other developments, the design – and enforcement – of competition principles for the global economy has attracted renewed interest on the part of practitioners and academics alike.
On the academic side, this is apparent from, e.g., the forthcoming conference organized by Daniel Sokol (Univ. of Florida, Levin) and Ioannis Lianos (Univ. College London) on November 18-19, 2010 in New Delhi, India, on “Implementing Competition Law and Policy, Global Perspectives” (see here for more information).
It is also marked by the publication of a monograph by Prof. [...]
