Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
BOOK REVIEW - COMMERCIAL AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION LAW
COMMERCIAL AGREEMENTS AND COMPETITION LAW: Practice and Procedure in the UK and EEC by Nicholas Green, LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D., of the Inner Temple, Barrister. Graham & Trotman, London (1986, lxxviii and 745 pp., plus 17 pp. Index). Hardback £90.
At last we have a competent and extensive guide for practitioners on the competition law of the United Kingdom and EEC and their interaction. Dr Green has taken the care and used the analytical skills of a good academic lawyer, but his book is far more practical than most academic lawyers could manage. The author read over 600 of the agreements on the register of restrictive trade practices in the U.K., so is able to understand the commercial constraints.
Although the work is intended for reference, rather than to be read through, it may well repay a beginner to read substantial sections of Part I—Procedure. It analyses the law under which commercial agreements may be controlled—100 pages on the substance of the Restrictive Trade Practices legislation, 40 on the Competition Act, followed by a chapter on the registration and negotiation of agreements, and another on court proceedings—both the sanctions for failure to notify an agreement to the Office of Fair Trading or to abide by the terms of an injunction and the justification of agreements before the Restrictive Practices Court. The competence of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission otherwise than on a Competition Act reference is considered but shortly. This has much to commend it, since the law is fairly complex yet need not be familiar in detail to all commercial lawyers—remedies are solely prospective and not retrospective, as in the case of the other areas of law considered. The defence of firms in proceedings before the Commission is undertaken by specialized firms and barristers. Some of the Commission’s conclusions on the public interest are, however, cited in order to illuminate the analysis of particular practices in Part 2. The substance of Arts. 85 and 86 of the EEC Treaty is analysed in 40 pages, and another 40 are devoted to enforcement and the Commission’s procedure.
Part 2 of the book, which deals with particular kinds of agreements and other practices, may prove the most useful to practitioners who are already familiar with the general principles of the substantive law. Each practice is described shortly and then considered under the provisions of both EEC and U.K. law. Some of the items, such as terms and conditions of trade, are very full indeed and contain analysis not to be found elsewhere in anything like as much detail. To give another example, rationalization agreements, in the chapter on joint ventures, are sub-divided into sector agreements, joint capacity utilization schemes and mergers; and each kind is analysed to see whether the agreement need be considered by the Restrictive Practices Court. The provisions of the Industry Act, under which government subsidies may be obtained, are analysed; and even the addresses in the DTI to which
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