Study Abroad & Exchange Programmes at Glasgow

This course will examine the European Union and UK rules on competition, a comprehensive and long- established yet dynamic and ever developing area of law.

The course is taught by means of seminars. The class meets once a week at either 9-11am on Wednesdays or 12-2pm on Thursdays (depending which class you are assigned to) in the first and second semesters.

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Essay worth 25% of final mark and a three hour unseen examination

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the competition law and policy of the EU and the UK. The course examines the main competition law provisions which deal with market dominance, agreements to restrict competition and mergers. It looks at how these areas of law are implemented and enforced in a political and economic context. Students will develop their communication skills, both oral and written through this course. Group work during seminars is encouraged. The overriding aim of the course is to develop the student's capacity for critical and analytical thought.

By the end of the course students should demonstrate: 1. an ability to define the key concepts of competition law and policy: (competition, relevant market, market power, vertical and horizontal integration); 2. a knowledge of the substantive rules of EU and UK competition law contained in the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and subsequent secondary legislation including the rules relating to restrictive business practices contained in Article 101, those relating to abuse of a dominant position contained in Article 102 and the rules relating to block exemptions, intellectual property and the control of concentrations; as well as the UK rules contained in Chapter 1 and 2 of the Competition Act 1998 and the Enterprise Act 2002 3. a knowledge of the procedural rules relating to the operation of competition policy within the European Union as applied by the European Commission including the rules relating to the extra-territorial application of the competition rules; 4. an ability to analyse decisions of the Commission and the CJEU from the stand-point of their legal validity and consistency with previous comparable decisions; 5. an ability to apply their knowledge to hypothetical problems in competition law; 6. an ability to define and explain problems which have arisen in the course of the development of EU law; 7. an ability to produce informed and independent criticism of the judgements of the competition authorities and courts in the area of competition law; 8. an understanding of the relationship between the political goals of market integration and the objective aims of competition; 9. an understanding of the use of economic concepts underlying competition law and theory by the Competition authorities and courts. 10. an understanding of UK Competition Law and the functions and powers of UK Competition institutions, as well as specific competition law features such as Market investigations.

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