Open AccessCompetition Policy during the Economic Crisis – legal issues
Author(s) -
Mateusz Błachucki,
Rafał Stankiewicz
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
equilibrium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2353-3293
pISSN - 1689-765X
DOI - 10.12775/equil.2010.006
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , order (exchange) , competition policy , competition law , state (computer science) , law and economics , economics , business , economic policy , political science , market economy , european union , finance , ecology , algorithm , computer science , biology , monopoly
The paper addresses the issue of legal issues of competition policy during the economic crisis. During the economic crisis public authorities are forced to redefine the aims of public policies and harmonize them. The paper aims at identifying spheres, where competition policy is limited by other public policies. First, the problem of crisis cartels and their admissibility under competition law is discussed. It is followed by the presentation of the exemptions to the general prohibition of anticompetitive mergers. Last but not least, the temporary framework for state aid in the UE is presented. It has been argued that during the economic crisis public authorities use peculiar legal instruments of competition policy to address problems arising from the crisis. Whenever it is possible reference to the case law is made in order to present the application of presented problems in practice.