Abstract
This chapter will attempt to show that there are many factors associated with a small domestic market that have a bearing on competition law and policy, and therefore, the competition regime of a small state should take these factors into account. Special reference will be made to Malta, where competition legislation is modelled on EU competition law.
This chapter is an updated and revised version of the study titled ‘Competition constraints in small jurisdictions’ published in Bank of Valletta Review number 30 (2004). The author would like to thank Dr Sylvann Aquilina Zahra for her comments on an earlier draft of this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Commonwealth Secretariat (2016): This is the population threshold adopted by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
- 3.
- 4.
Muscat (1998).
- 5.
Brown (2010): To make matters worse, many trained specialists originating from small states often emigrate to larger countries, where their specialised services are better utilised and where remuneration is more attractive.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
McKoy (2009).
- 8.
Briguglio (1995).
- 9.
Worrell (1992), pp. 9–10.
- 10.
A case in point is when Firm A, an exclusive distributor of Macintosh computers in Malta, unsuccessfully complained to the Office of Fair Competition against another firm (Firm B). Firm B imported these computers from Sicily and sold the computers at a fraction of the price previously charged by Firm A even after adding the Sicilian wholesalers markup and the transport costs. Firm A then appealed against the decision of the office of Fair Competition in the Courts, but the decision of the Office of Fair Competition was upheld.
- 11.
Briguglio (1995).
- 12.
However the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law and the European Commission’s decisional practice show that allegedly abusive conduct may fall outside the be defended on grounds of efficiency. See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52009XC0224(01),paras28etseq.
- 13.
- 14.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2013).
- 15.
Buttigieg (1999).
- 16.
European Commission (2010): This is subject to the so-called ‘pass-on requirement', meaning that consumers should ultimately get a fair share of the benefits. Furthermore, restrictions on competition must be indispensable to achieve the benefits and competition should not be substantially curtailed as a result of the agreement.
- 17.
See Ashurst (2014) for a discussion on possible co-operation agreements between competitors under Competition Law.
- 18.
Article 107(1) TFEU.
- 19.
- 20.
Government of Malta (1993), art 4(4). See http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=10475&l=1
- 21.
See the Control of Concentrations Regulations as first published in the Government Gazette, available at http://justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lp&itemid=18134&l=1
- 22.
ICN (2009), p. 31.
- 23.
See CMS (2014) for a description of merger control regulations of 44 jurisdictions, including those in the following small states: Cyprus, Estonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, and Slovenia.
- 24.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2013).
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Briguglio, L. (2017). Competition Law and Policy in Small States. In: Butler, P., Morris, C. (eds) Small States in a Legal World. The World of Small States, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39366-7_2
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