The Gazette 1973

BOOK REVIEWS Alexander (Willy)—The EEC Rules of Competition. 8vo; Pp. xvi, 187; London, Kluver Harrap Handbooks, 1973; £4.90. Cunningham (James P.)—The Competition Law of the EEC— A Practical Guide. 8vo; Pp. 315; London, Page; £6.50. Cunningham (James P.)—The P-E. Briefing Guide to Restrictive Practices and Monopolies in EEC Law. 8vo; Pp. 94; London, Kogan Page; £1.50. Bellamy (Christopher) and Graham D. Child—Com- mon Market Law of Competition. 8vo, Pp. xxvi, 361; London, Sweet and Maxwell; 1973; £7.75. It was inevitable that, once Britain and Ireland had joined the Common Market, there would be a spate of books on the vital law of competition within the Com- munity, and so it has proved. It may be best to examine each of these volumes separately. Alexander is a Dutch Lawyer, and his work bears the imprint of having been written by a Continental—and while all aspects of this intricate subject are more than adequately covered, the work is written in a ponderous style which requires deep concentration. This is cer- tainly not a book for the beginner, but those who persevere in reading it will undoubtedly acquire much knowledge. Mr. Cunningham's book on the Competition Law is frankly a book for the businessman and his advisers. The main principle is that Community competition prohibits arrangements between competitive business concerns which restrict competition in trade between Member States, although exemptions are allowed in specified cases. In other words competition law in essence seeks to achieve economic objectives by legal enforcement. As regards Ireland, we are informed on page 38 that there is no law against dominant positions or cartels of business as such, but that investigations can be undertaken by the Fair Trades Commission if requested. The main provisions of the Treaty of Rome relating to this matter are Articles 85, which deals with cartels, and Article 86, which deals with dominant positions. When the general prohibition against cartels in Article 85(1) is quoted, the expression "agreements", "Decisions by Associations" and "Concerted Practices" are all considered in detail, as well as "undertaking", "appreciable", "effect on trade". The full case law relating to each expression is given, and finally there is a list of the particular types of agreement prohibited by Sub-Section 1. Each subsection is dealt with lucidly in the same detailed manner, and thus the reader will acquire proficiency in these abstruse problems. There is also a section dealing with patents as well as with standardisation agreements, joint selling agreements, copyright and mergers. Mr. Cunningham's book can be thoroughly recom- mended to all practitioners who intend to secure a practical grasp of the difficult problems met within the course of competition law. He has divided his book into four parts, namely: (1) General Principles, including Cartels and Con-

certed Practices; (2) Vertical agreements including Dis- tribution Agreements and Resale Price Maintenance; (3) Horizontal Agreements including Joint Research Agreements, Agreements for Joint Selling and Purchas- ing, Standardisation Agreements, Specialization Agree- ments, and Exchange of Information Agreements; and (4) Mergers and other abuses of Dominant Position. The Appendix contains the text of all relevant Com- mission and Council Regulations from 1962 to 1971. As its name suggests, Mr. Cunningham's Briefing Guide to Restrictive Practices and Monopolies is intended as an elementary guide, and achieves its purpose admir- ably by dealing briefly and clearly with Articles 85 and 86. Messrs Bellamy and Child emphasise what cannot be stressed often enough, namely that, since 1 January 1973 the Common Market rules on competition form part of the domestic law of Ireland. All these authors have wisely refrained from dealing with the European Coal and Steel Community in order to keep their work within reasonable proportions. They stress the Contin- ental practice sanctioned by the Supreme Court in State (Bourke) v. A.G.— 31 July 1970— in which citation of distinguished authoritative legal authors is encouraged by the Courts. They also stress how incon- venient it has been for practitioners to have but a limited English translation of the authentic texts. The authors admit their debt to Mr. Alexander, yet they have managed to express lucidly and succintly what was difficult to follow in Alexander's book. The learned authors first deal in detail with each subsection of Article 85, then with Article 86. In dealing with the De Minimis Rule under Article 85 (para. 245) it is stressed that an agreement which would otherwise fall within Art 85(1) none the less falls outside the pro- hibition, according to the European Court decision in Volk v. Verwaecke (1969), where it is unlikely either to affect trade between Member States, or to restrict Competition to any noticeable extent. The effect of the famous Grundig-Konsten decision (1964) is well sum- marised in stating that "where an agreement has the object or effect of preventing competition between the parties, or between one of the parties and a third party, that agreement then falls within Art. 85(1) not- withstanding that the overall effect of the agreement may be to increase competition within the Common Market. As- regards provisional validity, the decision of the Court in Brasserie de Hat cht (No. 2)—6 February 1973— is important. Here it was held (1) that the Court may depart from its previous decision, and (2) that it may do so without explaining the reasoning which leads it to overrule or distinguish previous decisions. Each of the 12 chapters is divided into numbered paragraphs, chapter 1 covering paragraphs 100 to 199, and chapter 2 covering paragraphs 200 to 299, etc. The relevant cases of the European Court are very clearly summarised. There is little doubt that this volume, will, with Mr. Cunningham's, be jointly ranked as the essential recent volumes which any practitioner dealing with any intricate problem with European Community Law will require. 201