Case 6 - Antitrust law

Case 6 - Antitrust law

1. Different market structures

   • -Oligopoly: market dominated by a little number of sellers or service providers -Monopoly: producer who has great power in the market for being the only one that produces a good or service -Monopolistic competition: significant number of producers operating in the market without a control established -Perfect competition: market in which the companies do not have the power to manipulate the price (supply / demand) and welfare is maximized

2. A relevant product market comprises all those products/services interchangeable or substitutable by the consumer by reason of the products' characteristics, their prices and their intended use. And a relevant geographic market comprises the area in which the firms involved in the supply of products or services and in which the conditions of competition are sufficiently homogeneous

   • The agents are the consumers, the companies and the Commission that controls them. The barriers and costs are associated with switching demand to other products or areas

3. Antitrust law

   • Goals
     • Use microeconomic techniques to evaluate well-being from allocation of productive factors as to desirability and economic efficiency within an economy relative to competitive general equilibrium (Consumer welfare)
     • An economic efficiency that use the resources to maximize the production of goods and services (Efficient competition)
   • SPAIN
     • Ley 3/1991, de 10 de enero, de Competencia Desleal
       • Autoritat Catalana de la Competencia (ACCO) Comision Nacional de la Competencia(CNC) + Comision Nacional de Mercados y de la Competencia
   • EUROPE
     • Regulation 1/2003 of Antitrust
       • European Commision Competition (ECC)

4. Behaviors in the Antitrust regulation

   • Prohibition of restrictive agreements and practices of competition: collusive behavior, abuse of dominant position and distortion of competition by unfair acts
   • Acts of unfair competition: be directed at a determined competitor and to the proper functioning of the overall market