Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE CML3006

 
TITLE Competition Law

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Commercial Law

 
DESCRIPTION Aims and Objectives:

- To enable students to understand the rationale underlying Competition law
- To enable students to understand the basic concepts of Maltese Competition Law in particular its two pillars namely (i) collusive behaviour which distorts competition and (ii) abuses of a dominant position

Course Description:

Why regulate competition?
Overview of the Maltese Competition Act and its sources i.e. Articles 81 & 82 of the EC Treaty;
The notion of "undertaking"
Collusive behaviour that distorts competition - Art. 5 Competition Act
Agreements and Concerted Practices between undertakings and decisions by association of undertakings;
Object or effect of restricting or distorting competition
Exceptions
Block Exemptions
Abuse of a Dominant Position - Art. 9 Competition Act
Definition of the "relevant market"
What constitutes "dominance" and "collective dominance"
What constitutes "abuse" - some instances of abuse such as predatory pricing, tie-ins, essential facilities doctrine
Competition Authorities set up by the Act - the Office for Fair Competition and the Commission for Fair Trading
Enforcement

N.B. The unit is based on the Maltese Competition Act but frequent reference is made to EC Competition Law in view of the fact that it is the acknowledged source of the Maltese Act and the Act itself directs the Maltese Competition Authorities to take into account EC law in interpreting the Maltese legal provisions.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Students taking this study-unit need to have a background in law.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Annalies Azzopardi
Bernice Bianchi
Ilona Schembri

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit