Economists at RBB have advised on a large number of cases of alleged infringements involving cartel activity and other horizontal agreements. These include investigations by the European Commission under Article 101 TFEU, by the UK authorities under Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998, and by other national authorities including the NMa in the Netherlands, the Competition Commission in South Africa, and the German Bundeskartellamt. Our staff have also worked on appeals before the European Courts, as well as on cases brought before a variety of national courts and tribunals.
Our experience spans a wide range of cartel and horizontal agreements cases.
 |
Cartels and their effects |
| |
Economists’ contributions to cartel cases generally focus on quantifying the extent to which cartel agreements were successful in raising prices. This is an increasingly important area following the growth of private actions for damages arising from competition law infringements, which itself has been encouraged by the European Commission’s policy initiatives in this area. Our familiarity with the way competitive markets operate under various conditions allows us to assess the extent to which observed market outcomes are consistent with competitive explanations.
We have broad experience of applying empirical and econometric analyses to available market data to isolate the effect of any alleged coordinated behaviour. We also have extensive practical experience in providing expert economic reports for litigation purposes, and in defending such reports before various courts and tribunals. |
| |
|
|
Assessing effects on competition |
| |
Many horizontal agreements and related alleged competition law infringements also raise valid economic questions as to whether they amount to a competition law infringement. In areas such as collective selling, information exchanges and other industry collaboration that falls short of hard core cartel activity economic analysis can be instrumental in identifying whether a competition law infringement has occurred at all. For example, arrangements that align some aspects of competitors’ behaviour may help to avoid undesirable coordination failures and free-rider problems. Our expertise allows us to identify where and why such adverse effects are likely to arise, and to articulate the potential benefits of horizontal restrictions in such cases. |
| |
|
|
Parallel trade restrictions |
| |
RBB is equipped with the skills to assess the extent to which price differences across countries are the result of tax and other market distortions beyond the control of firms. We have also assisted clients in identifying circumstances in which restrictions on parallel trade are justified under Article 101(3), for instance by allowing the efficient recovery of fixed costs through differential pricing or permitting sales to be made in a territory or to a customer group that could not otherwise be served. |
| |
|
|
