The dissertation explores how industrial and development policy affect competition law and how the law accommodates these policies. Analysing the case of South Africa, the work tries to elicit if and how these different streams of policies can be aligned.
Letzte Änderung: 01.11.12
In the first part the dissertation will elaborate on the nature of competition law and industrial policy. It will also address development efforts, which normally form part of industrial policy. In looking at potential conflicts, the work attempts to show if and how the different areas, competition law on the one hand and industrial policies on the other, can be reconciled.
In order to give the subsequent observations on South Africa a proper notional framework, the subject matter is first analysed theoretically. The idea is to inform on the particular subjects which are relevant with regard to the treatise on South Africa. This includes the different concepts of competition law. It particularly comprises an analysis of the concept of abuse of dominance, especially with regard to developing countries. It looks at industrial policy from a competition law perspective so as to delineate where policy touches on the law and its enforcement.
The second part focuses on South Africa. It contains three parts, one referring to how competition law helps to overcome Apartheid’s industrial policy burden, one at how policy concerns influence today’s enforcement and one at the development dimension of enforcement.
South Africa is still suffering from a highly concentrated economy. Breaking the power of formerly state-owned enterprises has proven difficult. A number of these firms abuse their dominant position. By referring to case law especially in the field of abuse of dominance, the PhD covers the authorities’ attempt to overcome this industrial policy heritage of Apartheid.
In response to the social dislocations of Apartheid, the competition authorities are charged with an evaluation of public interest. Although presenting a potential gateway for competition-foreign objectives, the authorities do not normally let policy trump competition concerns. Judging from the by now elaborated case law, which is analysed at depth, one can say that the public interest regime has firmly become hedged in.
Lastly, in a number of cases the development dimension has directly come to the surface. They concern two areas which are of particular importance, namely, medicine and food. For instance, with regard to the distribution of life-saving medicine, such as anti-retroviral drugs, far-reaching results have been achieved by threatening pharmaceutical companies to bring an action under competition law.
Balthasar Strunz
Globale Wettbewerbsordnung
