Joint Ventures and Ec Competition Law

This book examines the treatment of joint ventures (JVs) in EU competition law, and, at the same time, provides a comparison with US law. It starts with an analysis of the rather elusive concept of JVs, encompassing both concentrative JVs (subject to merger control) and non-concentrative JVs. Although focused on possible definitions of JVs in terms of competition law, it also includes a broader perspective (going beyond competition law) on the different legal models of structuring cooperation links between undertakings. At the core of the book is an attempt to build an analytical model for the assessment of JVs in terms of antitrust law, especially as regards Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The analytical model used proposes a set of sequential analytical levels, taking into account structural factors and specific factors related to the main constituent elements of the functional programs of JVs. The model is applied to a substantive assessment of four main types of JVs, identified on the basis of their prevailing economic function: R&D JVs, production JVs, commercialization JVs, and purchasing JVs. Also covered are particular situations of joint ownership of undertakings falling short of joint control. In the concluding part of the book, recent developments in JV antitrust law are put into context, within the wider reform of EU competition law. The book is also comprehensively updated with the latest developments concerning the reform of the EU framework of horizontal cooperation between undertakings that took place by the end of 2010.

Luis Silva Morais is a Professor at the University of Lisbon Law School (FDL) and holds a Jean Monnet Chair of EU Law (Competition and Economic Regulation). He is a founding partner of 'Luis Silva Morais - Law Firm' (based in Lisbon). He has been Vice-President of the Privatization Advisory Board of the Portuguese Ministry of Finance (2001-11), Member of the Board of the Portuguese Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority-ISP (1998-2001) and currently chairs the Research Centre on Regulation and Supervision of the Financial Sector of FDL in scientific partnership with the Bank of Portugal and the ISP. He is a member of several arbitral courts.