This dissertation was written as part of the
Master of Laws (LL.M.)
in Transnational and
European Commercial Law, Mediation, Arbitration and Energy Law
at the International
Hellenic University.
The ultimate purpose of this paper
is to
familiarize academics and
professionals involved in the fields of law and economy
,
with
the
competition law
issues, which may emerge from the creation of Joint Ventures in the common market.
These alliances
constitute successful business decisions, for they are an innovative and
effective way to manage risk in uncertain markets, promote knowledge exchange and
finally, share the possibly major cost of capital investments. However, it can be argued
that, they
involve a sacrifice of independence and flexibility, when compared to
separate business ventures
1
and the competition issues that they raise can be of
utmost importance.
Although the European Commission
(EC), as well as the
national
courts, have
attempted to develop this policy area, there are still some aspects that
raise multiple questions of application.
This work aspires to provide an overview of the frame
work for assessment of two
distinctive
types of JVs
under EU
Competition law, mostly at the stage of their
formation.
More specifically
, this
paper firstly defines the notion of Joint Ventures and
presents their economic significance in
the market. In addition, a
distinction is made
between cooperative and concentrative Joint Ventures, which are
treated in a
different way by the European Commission.
Furthermore, we focus on concentrative
JVs, which can have pivotal effects on competition
. Finally,
the way
the European
Union has reacted to
these effects
is carefully examined
and the last chapter is
devoted to “spillover effects”,
for they
are considered to have a great impact on
competition and still constitute a major challenge for the European Commission
.
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