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hrvatski magyar bahasa indonesia italiano 日本語 қазақша 한국어 кыргызча lietuvių монгол bahasa melayu nederlands norsk bokmål polski português română русский srpskohrvatski српскохрватски සිංහල simple english slovenščina svenska türkçe українська oʻzbekcha ўзбекча tiếng việt winaray 中文 edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikinews wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia law maintaining market competition antitrust redirects here for the film see antitrust film this article is part of a series on competition law basic concepts barriers to entry competition effective competition competition law theory economic moat history of competition law market concentration monopoly and oligopoly coercive government granted monopoly market domination natural monopoly state and legal monopoly market power market share analysis monopoly profit price gouging relevant market regulatory economics anti competition collusion dividing territories formation of cartels price fixing list bid rigging tacit collusion occupational licensing and closure cornering the market embrace extend and extinguish exclusive dealing horizontal integration mergers and acquisitions monopolization non compete clause misuse of patents and copyrights predatory pricing dumping pricing policy product bundling and tying raising rivals costs refusal to deal group boycott essential facilities regulatory capture noerr pennington doctrine parker immunity doctrine rent seeking vendor lock in vertical integration measures herfindahl hirschman index lerner index market share profit margin ssnip test mitigation excess profits tax local loop unbundling market share liability merger control competition regulators list of competition regulators international competition network law portal outline lists index category v t e competition law also known by many as antitrust law is the field of law that promotes and maintains market competition by regulating anti competitive conduct by companies the history of competition law reaches back to the roman empire the business practices of market traders guilds and governments have always been subject to scrutiny and sometimes severe sanctions since the late 20th century competition law has become increasingly global the two largest and most influential systems of competition regulation are united states antitrust law named after the trust busting of monopolistic trusts and european union competition law national and regional competition authorities across the world have formed international support and enforcement networks modern competition law has historically evolved on a national level to promote and maintain fair competition in markets principally within the territorial boundaries of nation states national competition law usually does not cover activity beyond territorial borders unless it has significant effects at the nation state level countries may allow for extraterritorial jurisdiction in competition cases based on so called effects doctrine the protection of international competition is governed by international competition agreements overview edit competition law is the field of law that promotes and maintains market competition by regulating anti competitive practices by companies 1 2 in some jurisdictions such as the united states competition law is known as antitrust law because of the historical practice of trust busting monopolistic trusts 3 4 it is sometimes also known by reference to its functions for example as anti monopoly law 1 the aims of competition law are to combat economic cartels prevent market abuse regulate mergers and acquisitions encourage innovation protect consumers and increase overall economic productivity 5 6 7 competition law is rooted in the field of industrial organisation in economics which studies the interaction between market structure firm behaviour and market power including factors such as barriers to entry economies of scale and network effects 8 to control market power judges and other legal officials have to rely on economic analysis often relying upon or working with economists to do so 9 history edit main article history of competition law early forms of competition law were enacted during the roman republic and later the roman empire 10 11 12 in continental europe competition principles developed in the medieval lex mercatoria 13 while medieval england also enacted a number of statutes controlling trade practices 14 15 with the common law courts creating a number of competition law doctrines that remain to this day 16 17 major developments to competition law occurred with the growing rise of the market economy industrialization and modern capitalism throughout the 18th and 19th centuries the idea that dominant private companies or legal monopolies could excessively restrict trade led to legal reforms in europe however following the panic of 1873 ideas of competition lost favor and it was felt that companies had to co operate by forming cartels to withstand huge pressures on prices and profits 18 while the development of competition law stalled in europe during the late 19th century in 1889 canada enacted what is considered the first competition statute of modern times the act for the prevention and suppression of combinations formed in restraint of trade was passed one year before the united states enacted the sherman act of 1890 during the early 20th century legal trusts were employed by business conglomerates to establish monopolies which led to the development of antitrust law in the united states 19 as of 2020 over 140 competition law regimes have been established 20 a majority of these competition law systems were adopted in the past 30 years following the collapse of the soviet union and the expansion of the european union 21 22 currently competition authorities of many states closely co operate on an everyday basis with foreign counterparts in their enforcement efforts in such key areas as information and evidence sharing 23 rationale edit corporations are creatures of the state and the public safety requires that their conduct and functions shall be always controlled by their creator they must be not only subordinated to the laws to which natural persons must bow but they must be compelled to serve the public purposes for which they are created and for which alone they should be permitted to live monopoly is bad enough in private hands but it is a menace to all human rights when entrusted to artificial monsters uncontrolled by law and incapable of moral restraint future congressman james g maguire in a speech given during the 1880 united states presidential election 24 whilst competition law aims to improve economic efficiency by maintaining competitive rates and levels of productions it is nonetheless possible under some circumstances for anticompetitive practices to increase welfare or for competition law to decrease efficiency and increase costs to consumers 25 26 sources of law edit the english common law of restraint of trade is sometimes regarded as the direct predecessor to modern competition law 16 english courts subsequently decided a range of cases which gradually developed competition related case law which eventually were transformed into statute 13 for example in 1889 canada enacted what is considered the first competition statute of modern times the act for the prevention and suppression of combinations formed in restraint of trade a year later the united states enacted the sherman act of 1890 19 modern competition law comprises both national and international sources of law national competition law usually does not have extraterritorial jurisdiction unless the economic activity has had a significant national impact a principle known as the effects doctrine 2 27 international competition law such as european union competition law may have cross jurisdictional or supranational effect which may include criminal sanctions 28 29 30 31 32 there is considerable controversy among wto members in green and blue whether competition law should form part of the agreements in 1947 the general agreement on tariffs and trade gatt was adopted in 1994 the world trade organization wto was created establishing a range of limited provisions on various cross border competition issues on a sector specific basis 33 various proposals have been made historically for the establishment of a global antitrust code but there remains at present no global competition law 34 35 while incapable of enforcement itself the international competition network icn is a way for national authorities to coordinate their own enforcement activities 36 doctrine edit for competition law to intervene into business activity there must be a significant threat to market competition consumer welfare or economic efficiency 37 38 39 competition law aims to control a number of business practices including monopolies and market dominance abusive conduct mergers and acquisitions including horizontal and vertical agreements and subsidies 40 an early stage in assessing competition law cases is the determination of the relevant market in which competition occurs for the purposes of microeconomic analysis of factors such as market elasticity price and substitute goods 41 42 43 under the supranational eu law a relevant market is the intersection of both the relevant product market and the relevant geographic market 44 45 the ssnip test is usually used to define markets via assessment of demand side substitution 46 after defining the market the courts may inquire as to whether a monopolization in us law or market dominance in eu law has arisen 47 in the united states monopoly pricing is not inherently regulated whereas eu law considers it an antitrust offence 48 49 even where there is no monopolistic or dominant abuse a company may be sanctioned if they acted abusively for example in collusion or cartelism 50 51 52 abusive conduct and abuse of market position edit competition laws across jurisdictions also prohibit certain categories of abusive conduct although the categories may differ by jurisdiction and the list of prohibited conduct are often variable and open to new additions 53 common forms of abuse as recognised across jurisdictions include the unfair tying of one product into the sale of another causing a restriction of consumer choice 54 and depriving competitors of outlets 55 56 exclusive dealing or refusal to deal with certain vendors 57 58 dividing territories among different companies to reduce competition in those territories 59 price fixing among cartels 60 and the deprivation of essential facilities 61 forms of abuse relating directly to pricing include price exploitation it is difficult to prove at what point a dominant firm s prices become exploitative and this category of abuse is rarely found 62 a rarer issue is that of predatory pricing 63 the practice of dropping prices of a product so much that one s smaller competitors cannot cover their costs and fall out of business although it is not impossible for such practices to be found in the eu case of france telecom sa v commission 64 a broadband internet company was forced to pay 13 9 million for dropping its prices below its own production costs it had no interest in applying such prices except that of eliminating competitors 65 and it was being cross subsidized to capture the majority share of a booming market a third category of pricing abuse is price discrimination 66 an example of this could be a company offering rebates to industrial customers who export their sugar but not to customers who are selling their goods in the same market 67 collusion edit this section is an excerpt from collusion edit collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving misleading or defrauding others of their legal right collusion is not always considered illegal it can be used to attain objectives forbidden by law for example by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage it is an agreement among firms or individuals to divide a market set prices limit production or limit opportunities 68 it can involve price or wage fixing kickbacks or misrepresenting the independence of the relationship between the colluding parties 69 in legal terms all acts effected by collusion are considered void 70 cartel edit this section is an excerpt from cartel edit a cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other and avoid competing with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market they seek to limit competition fix prices and increase prices by creating artificial shortages through low production quotas stockpiling and marketing quotas cartel behaviors can be either legal or illegal 71 but jurisdictions frequently consider cartelization to be anti competitive behavior leading them to outlaw or curtail cartel practices anti trust law targets cartel behavior in markets mergers and acquisitions edit main article merger control see also mergers and acquisitions in united kingdom law mergers in united kingdom law and merger guidelines competition law regulates mergers and acquisitions prospectively rather than retrospectively in order to prevent potential monopolies and market domination 72 with companies intending to merge often needing to gain authorization from the state before they can do so when assessing whether a merger or acquisition can be allowed courts and other officials consider whether there will be a significant effect on competition 73 74 this is often done through the consideration of empirical evidence 75 although mergers can produce economic benefits such as reduced transaction costs and increased economies of scale economies of scope and economies of density 76 77 they also result in the concentration of economic power 78 as such courts often examine include the herfindahl hirschman index 79 the propensity of oligopoly via economic links 80 the transparency of a market 81 and barriers to entry 82 balancing the potential noncompetitive effects of a merger against the possible economic efficiencies and scientific discoveries that may also arise as a result 83 84 another possible defense might be that the firm which is being taken over is about to fail or go insolvent and so the resulting competitive state would not be lessened 85 this is known as the failing firm defense and has been a regular feature of the u s horizontal merger guidelines since 1982 86 mergers vertically in the market are rarely of concern although in aol time warner 87 the european commission required that a joint venture with ...