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‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues

‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues. ACLE Fourth Annual Competition & Regulation Meeting on the specialty topic of ‘EC Competition Enforcement Data’. Eline Poelmans, Research Doctoral Candidate, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

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‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues

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  1. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues ACLE Fourth Annual Competition & Regulation Meeting on the specialty topic of ‘EC Competition Enforcement Data’ Eline Poelmans, Research Doctoral Candidate, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

  2. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues 1. The emergence of a ‘common’ competition policy in the ECSC 2. The competition laws of the ECSC 3. Data Issues 4. Conclusions 5. Acknowledgements

  3. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • The emergence of a ‘common’ competition policy in the ECSC • US: first federal ‘competition law’: Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) • Europe: first ‘European’ competition laws only in the second half 20th century • 1952: foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) by West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg Analysis of - how the concept of ‘competition’ was perceived - how the ECSC competition laws were implemented in the first 15 years of the ECSC (1952-1967)

  4. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues 2.The competition laws of the ECSC • The obligation of the HA to liquidate any restrictions on the competition principle (articles 2 and 5) • Article 65: deals with prohibiting ‘anticompetitive agreements’ • Article 66: deals with ‘concentrations’ and ‘misuses’ of economic power • A ‘notification obligation’ to the High Authority (for article 65 and 66) • Made law by the HA in July 1953 for article 65 and in May 1954 for article 66

  5. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues 3. Data Issues for ‘agreements’ and ‘concentrations’ eg. for ‘concentrations’ • I. Approval Ratio • 1. Method - # approval requests for ‘concentrations’ submitted to the HA - # approved requests for concentrations • 2. Sources - ‘yearbooks’ of the ECSC + common yearbook of the ECSC, Euratom and the EEC - other sources (Archives of the European Commission in Brussels) - the authorizations for concentrations made by the HA

  6. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • 3. Approval ratio (ar) (eg for the ‘concentrations – article 66) 136 [ ie # of approved concentration requests ] ar = -------------------------------------------------------------------------- = 0.415 ( = 42 %) 328 [ ie # of concentration approval requests] But ... (see table: Requested versus approved concentrations in the ECSC between 1952 and 1967)

  7. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues

  8. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues

  9. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues 136 [ ie # of approved concentration requests ] • ar = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- = 0.596 (= 60%) 228 [ ie # of conclusions (267) - # of pending investigations (3) - # of requests for concentrations already established before article 66 became law (12) - # of exemptions (24) ] •  approval ratio increases from approximately 42 to 60 %

  10. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • II. Characteristic features of the companies that were successful in having their ‘concentration’ requests approved by the High Authority • Sources • ‘yearbooks’ of the ECSC + common yearbook of the ECSC, Euratom and the EEC • other sources (Archives of the European Commission in Brussels) • the authorizations for concentrations made by the HA

  11. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • Successful approval requests by country (1952-1967)

  12. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • Possible questions: concentrations • by country (also ‘cross border’ decisions) • by type of concentration • simplified: eg coal, steel or coal-steel concentrations • more specific: different subdivisions: • steel-steelprocessing • coal-carbopetrochemicals • etc… • by concentration procedure • acquisition of part of the shares • establishment of a new firm • merger • etc… • Conclusions: biased by big countries (ie West Germany)

  13. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues • Goal: analysis of • how the concept of ‘competition’ was perceived • how the ECSC competition laws were implemented in the first 15 years of the ECSC (1952-1967)  were there certain characteristic features of the concentrations in certain countries?  can we find a link between the type of approved concentration and the relative importance of the coal and steel industries in the total industry of the different countries?  what historical explanations can we find?  etc…

  14. ‘Agreements and Concentrations’ in the ECSC Countries between 1952 and 1967: Data Issues 4. Conclusions 5. Acknowledgements Eline Poelmans, Research Doctoral Candidate, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

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