LL310      Half Unit
Competition Law

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Competition is widely understood to be the best means to deliver better goods and services at lower prices. The point of competition law is to preserve the process of rivalry between firms, to benefit consumers and society at large. To do so, the competition rules prohibit firms from engaging in various types of business conduct that may harm competition and thereby consumers. Attempts by firms to avoid competing by means of secret arrangements (often called ‘cartels’) are a key area of enforcement. Competition authorities also enforce the competition rules against large multinational firms (such as Microsoft, Google, or Intel) that have the ability to influence market conditions and exclude smaller rivals. Furthermore, competition authorities have the power to block mergers and acquisitions that are capable of harming consumers (think of a merger creating a monopoly).

Competition law regimes have progressively become a major feature of legal systems around the world. They have long applied in the US and Europe – including the UK – but have now been adopted (and/or are actively enforced) in jurisdictions like Brazil, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa. Unlike other legal disciplines, the relevant provisions in these different regimes are virtually identical in their form and substance. This is, in other words, a truly cosmopolitan field. After this module, you will be equipped to understand and practice competition law almost anywhere in the world.

After an introduction in which competition law is put in its economic and institutional context, this module will introduce the main substantive aspects of the discipline. Topics covered include the following:
• Abusive practices by dominant firms.
• Anticompetitive agreements between firms (including cartels and distribution agreements).
• Mergers and acquisitions.

20 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Essay

R. Whish & D. Bailey, Competition Law (Oxford: OUP, 11th ed., 2024), A. Jones, B. Sufrin & N. Dunne, EU Competition Law (Oxford: OUP, 8th ed, 2023); and H. Hovenkamp, The Antitrust Enterprise (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005).

Exam (100%), duration: 150 Minutes in the Spring exam period