Regulating Anticompetitive Practices with Reference to the Digital Space: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Competition law is a body of law that seeks to promote fair competition in the marketplace by prohibiting anti-competitive practices, such as price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocations. Competition law is an integral part of a free market economy, where businesses compete to offer consumers the best prices and services. The emergence of cyberspace has presented new challenges to competition law. The internet has allowed businesses to operate across national borders, making it difficult to enforce competition law in multiple jurisdictions. Furthermore, digital technologies have enabled companies to collect and analyze vast amounts of data, which can lead to anti-competitive practices such as price discrimination or strategic alliances. Competition law has had to adapt to the digital age. Many countries have adopted laws that prohibit anti-competitive agreements between companies in the same industry, even if they are located in different countries. Additionally, authorities are increasingly using data-driven techniques to identify and investigate anti-competitive activities. In order to ensure that competition law is effective in cyberspace, it is important for businesses to be aware of the rules and regulations that apply to them. This includes understanding what types of activities are considered to be anti-competitive, as well as the potential penalties for engaging in such activities. Governments are also taking steps to ensure that companies comply with competition law, such as by introducing enforcement measures and bringing cases against companies that violate the rules. Competition law emerged as a branch of law over the years so as to maintain a balance in the market by ensuring that there is a free and fair environment for all the stakeholders, including, producers, manufacturers and consumers. With the advent of globalization and liberalization in the early 1990s, countries around the world opened up their trading activities, as a result the importance of a free and fair market emerged for both the domestic as well as international players. With this background, the laws emerged, however, over the recent years; instances of a number of anti-competitive practices have come to light especially in the cyberspace. This research paper attempts to identify these recent issues and analyze whether the present competition law has been effective in addressing such issues.