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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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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ELECD/2012/416.html