Paper Summary:

This paper explains that competition law policy has been implemented in many parts of the world in order to achieve 'workable competition' and prevent the formation of a 'cartelised' economy. In particular, the paper looks at how Article 81 of the European Community Treaty plays an important role in regulating competition in the Europe. The paper discusses how, although the Commission has been keen not to allow there to be legalistic distinctions between the treatment of agreements and concerted practices in Article 81(1), and has received the support of the community courts in this endeavour, there still seems to exist an artificial distinction that makes both terms conceptually distinct.

From the Paper:

"From these cases, we can conclude that the notion of a 'concerted practice' has increasingly been given wider definitions, the crux of which consists of a mental consensus whereby practical cooperation is knowingly substituted for competition, and that such can be achieved through direct or indirect contact between the parties without it being verbal. Hence, in the Cement appeals , the CFI held that receiving information at a meeting about the future conduct of a competitor constituted a concerted practice, even if one was a mere passive recipient of such information . Also in Soda-ash/Solvay , the Commission stated that a formal agreement is not necessary to prove collusion, as long as each party infers commitment from the other on the basis of conduct . These cases seem to show that concerted practices come under the umbrella of 'agreements', but only covers the less formal ones."

Sample of Sources Used:

• R. Whish, Competition Law, 5th Ed. 2005, OUP: Oxford University Press
• Office of Fair Trading (OFT), 'Agreements and Concerted Practices: Understanding Competition Law', Dec 2004
• K. Middleton, 'Blackstone's UK & EC Competition Documents', 4th Ed. 2005, OUP: Oxford University Press
• V. Korah, 'Concerted Practices: The EEC Dyestuffs Case', (1973) Modern Law Review Vol. 36 No. 2, 220-226
• K. Van Miert, 'Competition Policy Newsletter', Vol. 1 No. 3, 1994

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