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Negrinotti, Matteo --- "The Single Market Imperative and Consumer Welfare: Irreconcilable Goals? Exploring the Tensions Amongst the Objectives of European Competition Law through the Lens of Parallel Trade in Pharmaceuticals" [2012] ELECD 416; in Zimmer, Daniel (ed), "The Goals of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: The Goals of Competition Law

Editor(s): Zimmer, Daniel

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857936608

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: The Single Market Imperative and Consumer Welfare: Irreconcilable Goals? Exploring the Tensions Amongst the Objectives of European Competition Law through the Lens of Parallel Trade in Pharmaceuticals

Author(s): Negrinotti, Matteo

Number of pages: 43

Extract:

16. The single market imperative and
consumer welfare: irreconcilable
goals? Exploring the tensions
amongst the objectives of
European competition law through
the lens of parallel trade in
pharmaceuticals
Matteo Negrinotti*

1 INTRODUCTION: PARALLEL TRADE BETWEEN
FREE MOVEMENT AND COMPETITION RULES

Parallel trade (or grey markets) refers to the act of importing a product
into one country (the import country) from another (the export country),
and placing it on the market outside the distribution channels author-
ized by the product's manufacturer.1 Parallel trade is more likely to
occur when products are priced differently across markets. This creates
opportunities for arbitrageurs to make profits by purchasing a product
in a low price country (the export country) in order to export it for
resale in a high price country (the import country). If transactions costs



* Assistant Professor of Law, Tilburg University and Senior Member of
TILEC. The author is grateful to the participants of the 5th ASCOLA Conference
in Bonn on 6­7 May 2010 for their comments and input. All inaccuracies however
are the sole responsibility of the author.
1 Another definition, which more heavily stresses the link with intellectual

property rights, can be found in OECD-Joint Group on Trade and Competition,
Synthesis Report on Parallel Imports (COM/DAFFE/COMP/TD(2002)18/FINAL
28 Jun 2002). According to the report, parallel imports are defined as `genuine
goods sold in the country of export with the permission of the rights holder, but
imported by a reseller without the authority ...


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