16 April 2019

Time: 5:00 - 6:00pm
Venue: Room 1.2, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, 67-69 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3JB

About this seminar

Despite the importance of the “agreement” concept under Article101(1) TFEU, the concept remains underdeveloped by courts and commentators. In this seminar I reconstruct the “agreement” concept based on theories of legal interpretation and contract. I argue, based on a theoretical framework for EU Treaty interpretation and a broad, objective conception of an antitrust agreement, that the objectivity and correspondence requirements for contractual agreements have continuing relevance, while the precision requirement should be appropriately relaxed, for antitrust agreements. I advance three concrete proposals emerging from the indepth comparison between antitrust and contractual agreements, namely that the Article 101(1) “agreement” concept embraces tacit collusion, encompasses concerted practices and decisions of associations, and is independent of subjective intentions.

About the Speaker

Kelvin HF Kwok specialises in comparative competition law, with a focus on Hong Kong/China issues. He is Deputy Director of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), and a graduate of HKU and the University of Chicago.

He has articles forthcoming and published articles in journals such as Asian Journal of Comparative Law, European Business Organization Law Review, European Law Review, Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, Journal of Competition Law & Economics, World Competition, and Yale Journal of Law & Technology; and book chapters published by Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press.

He serves as Articles Editor of the Hong Kong Law Journal, Associate Editor of the China Antitrust Law Journal, Non-Governmental Advisor to the International Competition Network (ICN), and Co-opted Member of the Hong Kong Consumer Council’s Competition Policy Committee. He is a Hong Kong barrister and a member of Des Voeux Chambers.

Directions

For directions to the venue, please refer to the map.

Contact

For more information on this event, please email lawevents@qmul.ac.uk.

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