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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.
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