bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
China’s Pursuit of Industrial Policy Objectives: Does the WTO (Really) Have an Answer?
Authors: Tyagi Kalpana 
Published: April 2022

In the year 2016, according to estimates by the Chinese Bureau of Statistics, joint ventures (JV) with foreign partners contributed over 25% of foreign investment inflows in China. To the extent these JV help emerging economies such as China become more competitive and innovative is a positive consequence that is widely welcomed by the international community. However, the alleged forced technology transfer in these ventures is the Achilles heel that has evoked various retaliatory responses from governments worldwide. The United States recently studied the issue in its section 301 investigation and subsequently implemented various measures, including tariffs worth over USD 250 billion, which led to the onset of the so-called US-China trade war. The European Union (EU), on the other hand, called for the regulation of forced technology transfer and resorted to a more restrained manner by officially filing a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO). The EU’s complaint confirms the onerous set of conditions – such as forced technology transfer for approval of investments in strategic areas such as electric cars and the biotech sector – that stand in clear contrast to the China’s commitments when it first joined the WTO. For the companies, particularly those in the high tech sector, intellectual property is a key source of competitive advantage. Knowingly sharing this source of advantage means that rational firms that seek profit maximization derive some unrivalled gains through these collaborations.
Against this mixed backdrop, using inter-disciplinary insights from law and business strategy, this article, a part of series of articles on the subject, critically assesses the contemporary debate and different approaches to China’s practice of ‘discriminatory licensing’ and ‘forced technology transfer’.
Technology Transfer, Discriminatory licensing, Joint Ventures, section 301 US Trade Act, European Union, Market Economy Status, State Owned Enterprises, WTO
WTO Dispute Settlement and the Appellate Body: Insider Perceptions and Members’ Revealed Preferences
Authors: Saluste Maarja , Mavroidis Petros C. , Wolfe Robert , Hoekman Bernard M. , Fiorini Matteo 
Published: April 2022

The WTO dispute settlement system is in crisis, following the decision of the United States to block new appointments to the Appellate Body (AB). The AB went into hibernation in December 2019, not having enough sitting members to be able to operate. What do WTO members think of the performance of WTO dispute settlement? How much do WTO members care about the existence and operation of an appeals mechanism? In this article, we report on the results of a survey of WTO Members’ perceptions of the AB and the role it plays (should play). We complement this with data on Members’ revealed preferences in their use of the dispute settlement system, their intervention in WTO debates on the AB crisis and their responses to demise of the AB. The data reveal strong support for the basic design of the dispute settlement system but also that the United States is not alone in perceiving that the AB went beyond its mandate. There are substantive questions that need to be addressed if the Appellate Body impasse is to be resolved.
WTO, Appellate Body, dispute settlement, conflict resolution
Pragmatic Literary Theories and WTO Treaty Interpretation
Authors: Bhala Raj , Witmer Eric 
Published: April 2022

‘No connection!’ That may be the thought of conventional, old-fashioned thinking as to ‘literary theory’, on the one hand, and ‘WTO treaty interpretation’, on the other hand. In fact, the conventional wisdom as to how the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body must interpret disputed terms in a treaty is incomplete.
That orthodoxy says the Appellate Body is restricted to the tools provided by Articles 31– 32 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The key such tool is a lexicographic hammer, namely, finding the plain meaning of a word or phrase at issue in a case between two WTO Members, with occasional recourse to surrounding passages or to the purpose of the treaty in which the disputed term is located. But Articles 31–32 comprise a larger tool kit than obsessive focus on the definition of a disputed word or phrase.
In truth, those Articles allow not only for Textualist and Contextualist techniques, but also Pragmatic ones. All such techniques are rich, nuanced tools familiar in English Literary Theory. An honest, open-minded account of the tools the Appellate Body has at its disposal to make decisions should acknowledge the possibilities this tripartite taxonomy affords, rather than castigate the Appellate Body for judicial activism if it allegedly strays from strict constructionism.
interpretation, treaty, WTO Appellate Body, pragmatic, literary, Vienna Convention, trade
ASEAN, Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, and Hemispheric Free Trade for the Americas
Authors: Rudner Martin 
Published: April 2022

Herein, again, we only shave the common fate of all nations; for not only do all touch one another more closely than of old, but—and especially in Asia—conditions external to all are drawing the regard of all towards a common centre, where as yet nothing certain is determined, where the possibilities of the future are many, and diverse, and great.
A.T. Mahan, The Problem of Asia (1900)
The Proposed New Technology Transfer Black Exemption
Authors: Pilola Anu , Dolmans Maurits 
Published: April 2022

This article discusses the legal and economic foundations, as well as the practical implications of the Commission's proposal for a new technology transfer block exemption regulation (``TTBER'') and associated Guidelines. The article concludes that the new TTBER brings desirable flexibility to the assessment of the competitive effects of technology licensing agreements by abolishing the current division of the clauses into four categories of exempted, white, black and grey clauses. The Commission's proposal is also praised for extending the scope of the Regulation to software copyright licences and for exempting some efficiency-enhancing restrictions that currently fall outside of the TTBER. The article, however, adopts a critical stand towards market share ceilings that the new TTBER introduces and criticises the overly stringent approach that the Commission adopts towards licensing between competitors. Finally, the article discusses some implications of the tightening of the rules on territorial restrictions. The article suggests alternatives, which, according to the authors, would lead to a more effective regulatory framework and to more efficient dissemination of new technologies
Buyer Power Assessment in Competition Law: A Boon or a Menace?
Authors: Kokkoris Ioannis 
Published: April 2022

In recent decades, the development of very large buyers in previously more fragmented industries makes buyer power a recurrent issue in competition law cases. Buyer power can simultaneously be a boon and a menace for markets and competition. It may provide a countervailing force to enhanced seller power, and unless it leads to successive power, it can lead to lower prices in the downstream market. However, buyer power may also be socially detrimental, when it is not in the presence of strong seller power. It may undermine the long-term viability of suppliers and their willingness for innovation. Thus, the impact of buyer power in the economy is ambiguous. Analysis of buyer power should be on a case-by-case basis and involve an assessment of the likely distortion in both the upstream and the downstream markets. There should be no presumption that buyer power per se is infringing competition law.
This article will focus both on analysing countervailing buyer power and anticompetitive buyer power (or buyer market power). The article will address the issue of market definition and analyse the measures for assessing buyer power. It will also analyse cases involving buyer power under Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty as well as under the European Control Merger Regulation (ECMR). This article has been shortlisted for the 1st World Competition Young Writer Award.
Ways to Promote Workable Private Antitrust Enforcement in Italy
Authors: Rosso Selene 
Published: April 2022

While the European Commission is retreating its proposal to import the US model of private antitrust enforcement, this is gaining ground in Italy, where double damages have been awarded in the well-known Manfredi case.
Nevertheless, it is still difficult to be awarded antitrust damages by an Italian court because of several reasons: (1) the labyrinth of the Italian courts, (2) the pliability of the Government to lobbying pressures, and (3) the courts’ reluctance/inability to deploy economic concepts in calculating the amount of damages.
Bearing in mind such issues, this article aims to propose viable ways of encouraging private parties to claim antitrust damages before the Italian courts, having regard to the more consolidated US experience and the suggestions put forward by the Commission at EC level. In particular, it shows the benefits of the following proposals: (1) to eliminate the exclusive competence of the Courts of Appeal so that all the cases concerning antitrust damages would go through the normal steps of the Italian judicial hierarchy and (2) to involve the National Competition Authority (NCA) in private litigation, by giving it the task of quantifying antitrust damages.
Competitive Neutrality and Distortion of Competition: A Conceptual View
Authors: Virtanen Martti , Valkama Pekka 
Published: April 2022

Distortion of competition is a perennial concern of competition policy and a key challenge for new markets. The research problem herein elaborates on the concept of competitive neutrality by analysing its theoretical underpinnings with a view to promoting meaningful political debate and related administrative and legal reforms topical in a number of economies, including Finland. A fundamental aim of the article is to contribute to developing a theoretical framework for further studies of competitive neutrality and distortion of competition.
There is a conceptual connection between competitive neutrality and distortion of competition: competitive neutrality implies undistorted competition, where a trading partner whose purchase of a certain product the rival companies compete for will make his choice among the alternatives offered by the rival firms solely on the basis of his preferences. In that case, the preference ranking he constructs of the rivals’ products is not affected by any outside factor. Competitive neutrality is a multidimensional and disputed issue because distortions of competition have a broad institutional background. The consequences of lacking competitive neutrality and main types of policy response to competitive neutrality problems are also discussed.
Objective Justification and Article 102 TFEU
Authors: van der Vijver Tjarda 
Published: April 2022

Dominant firms that are accused of abusive behaviour may try to invoke an objective justification. If an objective justification is successfully invoked, the Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibition does not apply. The objective justification plea is useful to provide more legal certainty and coherence as to the application of Article 102 TFEU and appears to fit well within the 'effects-based' approach advocated by many. In this article, I discuss three types of objective justification. The first source is legitimate business behaviour, which basically encompasses all actions that can be qualified as 'competition on the merits'. A second source is public interest considerations, where a higher (non-competition) goal trumps the application of Article 102 TFEU. A third source is efficiency. If the conduct leads to a net gain in consumer welfare, it may be objectively justified. The application of objective justification may depend on many factors. The proportionality criterion, the necessity test, the dominant firm's intent and the effect of the conduct may all have a role to play. In this paper, I argue that the applicability of these conditions depend on the type of justification being invoked.
Quantifying Benefits of Sustainability Agreements Under Article 101 TFEU
Authors: van der Zee Eva 
Published: April 2022

Discussions at the European Commission, in academic journals as well as at conferences for academics and practitioners, indicate that there is a lack of clarity how to coincide anticompetitive sustainability agreements with the so-called economic approach of the European Commission. The current interpretation of the economic approach, most notably the European Commission guidelines issued in 2004 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), has led to situations where agreements between undertakings to stop the sale of unsustainable products or production processes have been discouraged. In this article, it is examined how the current European Commission guidelines could be improved to allow undertakings to assess their agreements in a way that is quantifiable but that goes beyond an economic approach focusing solely on monetary well-being. This article gives a legal overview of Article 101 TFEU and the guidelines, followed by an exploration of different methods to quantify agreements under Article 101(3) TFEU.
competition law, European law, well-being, sustainability, welfare, capabilities, costbenefit analysis, law and economics, psychology, Article 101 TFEU
Boundedly Rational Users and the Fable of Break-Ups: Why Breaking-Up Big Tech Companies Probably Will Not Promote Competition from Behavioural Economics Perspective
Authors: Frank Lior 
Published: April 2022

The disclosure regime introduced by the EU Damages Directive is largely unprecedented in many EU Member States. Its implementation raises a number of thorny questions for both legal scholarship and practice. This contribution proposes a comparative analysis of Germany’s implementation through the lens of US discovery as a means of exposing issues, testing weaknesses, and exploring potential solutions. While the US certainly does not get everything right, it has grappled with questions of disclosure for decades. This wealth of experience and case law provides a rich vein for European (civil law) legislators and practitioners alike to mine. To this end, we analyse the key uncertainties that persist in Germany’s implementation: from the conditions and costs of disclosure, to the protections against disclosure, and the consequences of a breach. Each step of the way the US model serves as a preface to the German approach, providing context for a critical comparative analysis. We conclude with practical recommendations for the future.
antitrust, competition law, big tech companies, behavioural economics, bounded rationality, digital economy, brand name, platform and merger breakups, market power, remedies.
Self-Preferencing: Yet Another Epithet in Need of Limiting Principles
Authors: Colomo Pablo Ibáñez 
Published: April 2022

Self-preferencing is central to contemporary competition law discussions, in particular in digital markets. This article considers the meaning and scope of the label. It shows, first, that favouring an affiliate is, in itself, an expression of competition on the merits. Such conduct is typically linked to the very pro-competitive benefits that are expected from horizontal and vertical integration. Second, self-preferencing is not a sound category, whether from a legal or an economic perspective. It potentially applies to conduct that differs widely in its nature, purpose and effects. The scope of the category would range from traditional instances of tying, on the one hand; to cases that would demand a competition authority to interfere with the design of a product and/or a firm’s business model, on the other.
Against this background, the use of self-preferencing as a category would require addressing some issues of principle. In the first place, it seems particularly necessary to ponder the substantive and institutional implications of abandoning indispensability as a filter limiting the exposure of the system to proactive intervention. In the second place, the need to preserve a robust assesment of effects comes across as particularly important.
Article 102 TFEU, Indispensability, Self-Preferencing, Vertical Integration, Horizontal Integration, Tying, Refusal to Deal, Product Design, Business Model, Digital
The Regulation of Injunctive Relief on Standard Essential Patents Within China’s Anti-monopoly Law
Authors: Wang Yuting 
Published: April 2022

Competition concerns arising from the seeking of injunctions by FRAND-encumbered (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) standard essential patent (SEP) owners have become a contentious issue. This issue has attracted the attention of many competition enforcement authorities and no consensus is reached as to the compatibility of such injunctive relief with competition law. This is also a hard and challenging problem faced by China. A coherent and balanced response is urgently needed under current China’s legal framework. Therefore, this article proposes that a basic regulating approach should be established first to treat the seeking of injunctions by FRAND-encumbered SEP owners as an independent anti-competitive practice prohibited by the Anti-monopoly Law. Then, an analysis framework should be established to consider the circumstances in which and the extent to which such seeking of injunctions should be limited from the perspective of competition enforcement. The behaviour of both SEP owners and SEP users should be properly examined.
standard, standard essential patent (SEP), injunctive relief, injunction, competition, antitrust, Anti-monopoly law, competition law, fair, reasonable and non- discriminatory (FRAND), reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND).
Think Green Before You Apply: EU Competition Law and Climate-Change Abatement
Authors: Henry David , Buhart Jacques 
Published: April 2022

European Union (EU) competition law and the protection of the environment may not be the most obvious bedfellows. Nonetheless, how the EU competition rules can contribute to the EU’s mission to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 is a subject of keen debate – both by the European Commission (EC) and at Member State level. It is submitted, however, that the manner in which Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) are applied by the EC is unconducive to the achievement of the EU’s ambitious climate goals. As such, it requires adaptation. A principal, though not the only, stumbling block in this regard pertains to the EC’s insistence on the need to demonstrate economic ‘in-market’ efficiencies with a view to offsetting any alleged competition concerns. Environmental benefits, however, tend by definition to be ‘out-of-market’. Drawing upon recent developments at national level, in particular, this article therefore seeks to offer some food for thought on how the rules relating to Article 101(3) TFEU and the EUMR could be amended/ applied differently as a means of accommodating environmental benefits and supporting the 2050 climate neutrality objective.
European Green Deal, Climate neutrality, Environment, Article 101(3) TFEU, EU Merger Regulation, In-market efficiencies, Out-of-market efficiencies, CECED, UK CMA, Netherlands ACM
Editorial
Authors: Rísquez Thielen Jorge 
Published: April 2022

El Centro Médico Docente La Trinidad es una institución de salud integral, multidisciplinaria, de alta calidad asistencial, gerencial y académica, con un equipo humano identificado y comprometido con los valores, éticos, morales y convicción social, con alcance local y regional, bajo un modelo asistencial organizado por especialidades médicas, sustentable y sin fines de lucro, que responde a las necesidades de la comunidad, orientado al desarrollo de programas de educación e investigación en salud y medicina comunitaria.
Desde hace 55 años, realiza aportes a tres grandes áreas: programas sociales, investigación y educación. En educación se cuenta con 10 residencias asistenciales programadas (postgrados) y más de 20 programas de perfeccionamiento profesional. Como era de esperar, cada uno de estos programas académicos están apoyados en la investigación, en búsqueda de la adquisición de nuevos conocimientos científicos que puedan ser beneficiosos en el tratamiento de nuestros pacientes. Estos trabajos son presentados anualmente en las Jornadas Científicas de la institución. Muchos de estos trabajos de investigación han recibido reconocimientos y premios, tanto a nivel nacional como a nivel internacional y han sido publicados por diferentes revistas científicas.
El crecimiento natural de las oportunidades académicas y de trabajos de investigación nos lleva a crear una revista científica como medio de divulgación, que obedezca a los más exigentes estándares: Revista Científica Centro Médico Docente La Trinidad. Esta revista cuenta con un Comité Editorial, integrado por prestigiosas personalidades nacionales apegados a las recomendaciones internacionales (Internacional Committee of Medical Journal Editors ICMJE; World Association of Medical Editors WAME ) y Committee on Publicaction Ethics COPE. Está dirigida a todos los profesionales de la salud, docentes y estudiantes, de las especialidades médicas, odontológicas, psicológicas, bioanálisis y enfermería, en el ámbito nacional e internacional. Se publicará de manera continua, en formato de acceso abierto, artículos originales, revisiones, casos clínicos y datos epidemiológicos producto de investigaciones en ciencias de la salud. Incluye artículos de ciencias clínicas, ciencias quirúrgicas, ciencias básicas, salud pública, tecnología aplicada a salud, actividad docente y asistencial.
Para la Dirección de Educación e Investigación es un orgullo presentar estos primeros números.
Necesidad de tratamiento ortodóncico en un grupo de pacientes pediátricos utilizando el índice IOTN
Authors: Méndez Sánchez Pedro Miguel , Sotillo Gómez Virginia , Marcano Gisela , Limongi Isabella , Medina Díaz A. Carolina 
Published: April 2022

El Índice de Necesidad de Tratamiento Ortodóncico (IOTN) permite cuantificar y determinar la necesidad de tratamiento dependiendo de la severidad de los indicadores de maloclusión. Objetivo: Determinar la necesidad de tratamiento ortodóncico en un grupo de pacientes pediátricos, que acudieron al servicio de Odontopediatría del Centro Médico Docente la Trinidad, entre marzo 2020 a agosto 2021, utilizando el índice IOTN. Materiales y Métodos: Se realizó una investigación descriptiva y transversal, en la cual se determinó la necesidad de tratamiento ortodóncico mediante el componente dental del índice IOTN, en pacientes de 5 a 18 años de edad seleccionados a conveniencia. Lospacientes con dentición mixta o permanente fueron evaluados clínica y fotográficamente. Participaron 4 observadores. Los datos fueron registrados y analizados con variables descriptivas. Resultados: La muestra estuvo conformada por 46 pacientes, con distribución equitativa entre sexos. El 39% de la muestra presentó ninguna (28%) o poca (11%) necesidad de tratamiento; mientras que el 61% de la muestra sí requiere tratamiento ortodóncico (necesidad moderada 33%, necesidad alta 28% y gran necesidad 4%). Los indicadores de maloclusión más prevalente fueron la sobremordida (23,9%) y desplazamiento dentario (21,7%). Conclusión: El uso del índice IOTN refleja una elevada necesidad de tratamiento ortodóncico en los pacientes pediátricos estudiados, principalmente derivada de sobremordida profunda y apiñamiento dental.