The content and practice of competition law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The protection of consumers` interests (consumer protection) and the ensuring that traders have the opportunity to compete in the market economy are often seen as important objectives. Competition law is closely linked to the Law on Deregulation of Market Access, State Aid and Subsidies, the privatization of State assets and the establishment of independent sectoral regulators, as well as other market-oriented supply-oriented policies. In recent decades, competition law has been seen as a way to provide better public services. [10] Robert Bork argued that competition laws can have negative effects if they restrict competition by protecting inefficient competitors and if the costs of legal intervention are higher than the benefits to consumers. [11] The history of competition law dates back to the Roman Empire. The business practices of market traders, guilds and governments have always been subject to controls and sometimes severe penalties. Since the 20th century, competition law has become global. [7] The two most important and influential competition regulatory systems are U.S. antitrust law and European Union competition law. National and regional competition authorities around the world have formed international support and enforcement networks.
Competition law (or antitrust) is an exciting area of law that operates at the interface of law and business; Its purpose is to protect the process of competition in a free market economy. Competition is usually an advantageous process because when companies compete for customers, they are encouraged to produce products (or services) of the best quality at the minimum price, which is good for consumers (us). One of the main objectives of competition law is to prohibit undertakings from participating in practices which distort the competitive process and affect competition, for example by preventing undertakings from entering into anti-competitive agreements, by preventing undertakings with significant market power from abusing their market power or dominant position and by preventing undertakings from exploiting competition through Mergers with their competitors. For example, the benefits of competition are lost when competing firms agree instead of competing for pricing or market sharing, thereby eliminating important aspects of competition between them. Under such conditions, companies can become lazy and inefficient, administrators can spend too much time on the golf course (certainly knowing that their competitors, if any, do too!), instead of thinking about the best way to reduce costs, innovate and satisfy the needs of their customers. According to the World Bank`s 2013 report „Republic of Armenia Accumulation, Competition, and Connectivity Global Competition“, the Global Competitiveness Index suggests that Armenia is the lowest among ECA (Europe and Central Asia) countries in terms of the effectiveness of antimonopoly policy and the intensity of competition. This low ranking explains in a way the low employment rate and low incomes in Armenia. [89] At the national level, competition law is enforced by competition authorities and through private enforcement. The U.S. Supreme Court has stated:[48] Competition law is a law that encourages or seeks to maintain competition in the marketplace by regulating anti-competitive behavior by companies.
[1] [2] Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. [3] Competition law is historically known as antitrust law in the United States and antimonopoly law in China[1] and Russia. In recent years, it has been known as Commercial Practice Law in the UK and Australia. In the European Union, it is called both antitrust law[4] and competition law. [5] [6] Competition law gained new recognition in Europe in the interwar period, when Germany enacted its first antitrust law in 1923 and Sweden and Norway passed similar laws in 1925 and 1926 respectively. However, with the Great Depression of 1929, competition law disappeared from Europe and was revived after World War II, when the United Kingdom and Germany, under pressure from the United States, became the first European countries to adopt full-fledged competition laws. At regional level, EU competition law has its origins in the Agreement of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between the France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany in 1951 after the Second World War. The agreement was intended to prevent Germany from re-establishing its dominance in coal and steel production, as it was believed that this dominance had contributed to the outbreak of war.
Article 65 of the Agreement prohibited cartels and Article 66 provided for concentrations and abuses of dominant positions by undertakings. [35] This was the first time that the principles of competition law had been incorporated into a plurilateral regional agreement and that the trans-European model of competition law had been established. In 1957, competition rules were incorporated into the Treaty of Rome, also known as the EC Treaty, which established the European Economic Community (EEC). The Treaty of Rome made the adoption of competition law one of the main objectives of the EEC by „creating a system which ensures that competition in the common market is not distorted“. The two key provisions of EU competition law for undertakings have been set out in Article 85, which prohibits anti-competitive agreements, subject to certain exemptions, and in Article 86, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant position. The Treaty also established principles for the competition law of the Member States, Article 90 for public undertakings and Article 92 containing provisions on State aid. .