International Antitrust Law & Policy: Fordham Corporate Law 1997 - Hardcover
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Chapter 9
VERTICAL ASPECTS OF MERGERS, JOINT
VENTURES AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
Bernard E. AmoryH
I. INTRODUCTION
Over the last five years there has been an increasing number of
transactions raising vertical issues under competition law. Such transactions,
in the form of mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances,
have often not only had transnational dimensions within Europe but have
also had trans-Atlantic implications, giving rise to cooperative enforcement
initiatives between competition authorities of the United States and the
European Union. They have occurred in a variety of industries but more
particularly in the telecommunications, media and airline sectors.
The purpose of this paper is not to provide an exhaustive summary and
analysis of the decisions of the European Commission and the European
courts relating to vertical mergers and joint ventures but rather to provide
some comments on the specific features of the administrative practice of the
Commission in this area. For a more exhaustive discussion of the decisions
themselves, I refer to the papers of other speakers and more particularly to
the paper presented by the representative of the European Commission. The
following themes will be discussed: (a) the policy of the European
Commission toward vertical mergers in view of the relatively large number of
recent merger decisions of the European Commission raising vertical issues,
as compared with the policy of the antitrust agencies in the United States over
the last few years; (b) the recent negative decisions of the European
Commission in the media sector; and (c) the Open Network Provision rules in
the telecommunications sector as an example of a focused regulatory
response to vertical issues.
Partner, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Brussels. The author expresses his thanks to
his colleagues Chiara Meroni and Darryl R. Marsh for their assistance in the preparation of
this paper.