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Global Issues in Competition Law and Policy - LAWS8203

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 5740, 9230, 9231 or 5231

Excluded: JURD7603

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course provides a comparative overview of the principles underlying competition regulation in Australia, the United States, Europe and New Zealand. The lecturers do not assume students have had any previous exposure to competition law in any of these jurisdictions or to the study of economics. The course looks at the meaning of competition; the rights and obligations of actual or would be competitors; the role that competition law is generally expected to play in society and the nature of markets and market power. All these issues are examined in a global context since businesses of all sizes are increasingly operating across borders and may be forced to modify their conduct and tailor their marketing and distribution systems to fit quite different competition regimes. The course does not cover consumer protection, price control provisions or industry specific regulations developed for the electricity, telecommunications or other industries.

LLM Specialisations

Corporate and Commercial Law
Corporate, Commercial and Taxation Law
Innovation Law

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

At the end of this course you should be able to:

Adjust quickly and confidently to the needs of law firms with multinational competition practices
Act as a first stop source of advice in your own jurisdiction for clients whose activities span more than one jurisdiction
Formulate legal and economic arguments in legal proceedings with a transnational dimension
Engage with expert economists from other jurisdictions who are called as witnesses in Australian competition cases
Understand the legal and economic choices facing law makers, judges and regulators in different jurisdictions
Engage with similarities and differences across jurisdictions in the treatment of common anti-competitve practices

Main Topics

The difference between rules of reason and per se rules in competition analysis and the rational for their adoption or rejection in different jurisdictions
Convergence and divergence in the treatment of the pivotal concepts of market definition; market power; structural and behavioural barriers to entry
The importance and interaction of competition, efficiency and consumer welfare
Differing approaches to the concept of misuse of market power, in particular the course examines:

-	refusals to deal with or license would be competitors
-	predatory pricing
-	tying or bundling products or services

The ways in which various commercial practices based on exploitation of intellectual property rights may impact differently on competition regimes in different jurisdictions.

Assessment

Workshop participation, preparation and engagement in class 30%
Take home exam 70%

Course Texts

Prescribed
Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.

Recommended

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.

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