The business of online marketplaces has been thriving. Platforms such as Amazon (Amazon Marketplace), eBay and Alibaba have grown into gigantic global enterprises. These platforms serve as intermediary between sellers and buyers with regard to contracts for the sale of goods or services, for which they charge the sellers a commission. The success of platforms depends on the large amounts of personal data they gather from their customers, enabling them to target individual customers with advertising. They tend to use or operate trustworthy payment services. Although the platforms act as facilitators for the sellers or providers of services, they also enter into a legal relationship with consumers. The setting of an account by the customer implies a contractual relationship based on the platforms' terms and conditions, which may also include a framework agreement for the provision of payment services and the users’ consent to the processing of their personal data. Further duties of the platforms vis-à-vis consumers can also arise from the application of unfair commercial practices law. The main question this paper focuses on is whether platform providers also have information duties towards consumers. The issue is discussed with regard to the pre-contractual duties imposed by Directive 2011/83 on consumer rights (CRD).
COBISS.SI-ID: 14904401
This practical analysis of competition law and its interpretation in Slovenia covers every aspect of the subject – the various forms of restrictive agreements and abuse of dominance prohibited by law and the rules on merger control; tests of illegality; filing obligations; administrative investigation and enforcement procedures; civil remedies and criminal penalties; and raising challenges to administrative decisions. After an informative introductory chapter, the book proceeds to a detailed analysis of substantive prohibitions, including cartels and other horizontal agreements, vertical restraints, the various types of abusive conduct by the dominant firms and the appraisal of concentrations, and then goes on to the administrative enforcement of competition law, with a focus on the antitrust authorities’ powers of investigation and the right of defence of suspected companies. The European Commission's sector inquiry into the electronic commerce of consumer goods and digital content in the EU shows a number of anti-competitive practices in online marketplaces such as pricing restrictions, restrictions on online sales and territorial restrictions. The licensing practices in relation to digital content, such as exclusivity on a per Member State basis, bundling of rights and geo-blocking also make it more difficult for new online business models and services to emerge. Therefore, the rules of competition law will be increasingly applied in the field of e-commerce.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14868561
In recent years, the number of cases in which plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages caused by anticompetitive behaviour and other forms of relief has been rising in Slovenia facing the courts, businesses and their representatives, to some extent even national competition authorities with novel and complex issues of antitrust private enforcement. The paper analyses focal elements of current regulation of private enforcement of antitrust in Slovenia. It focuses on relevant European legal framework, in particular on the new Directive 2014/104 and its travaux preparatoires, as well as on relevant national legislation. Further, the paper elaborates on the status quo of private enforcement of European and national antitrust in Slovenia and tries to find reasons for its inefficiency. Relevant private lawsuits before Slovenian courts are analysed in the final chapter.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14888785
This paper focuses on a range of selected issues relating to, as well as the role and function of, competition law and policy in this period of economic crisis, where competition policy is used as an overarching term that refers to support for competition and enforcement of the rules of competition law. Despite the interconnections that exist between competition law and policy, it does not specifically address economic questions, nor the foundations and objectives of competition law, although a firm knowledge of this area and that of economics is essential to any discussion of the role of competition law at a time of recession. Recent years have seen a wealth of legal literature, involving articles, discussions and in particular online analysis. It can be general in scope when discussing competition law during the recession and period of economic crisis, or more oriented towards discussing competition law and the industries affected by the financial crisis, particularly the banking sector, and deals with all areas of competition law (restriction, concentrations, state aid). The paper extends the discussion to antitrust, concentrations and the issue of state aid, but we should state from the outset that space restrictions mean that this discussion cannot be consistent and complete therefore it is focused on substantial law and does not deal with procedural issues.
COBISS.SI-ID: 15115601
The article discusses how the right to be heard or the audi alteram partem principle, is manifested in the process of producing and evaluating evidence in civil proceedings. The starting point for the examination is the Slovenian civil procedural law, whose features are then compared with characteristic solutions on the same issues in jurisdictions of other selected EU Member States. The hearing of both parties is an essential principle recognised in all of the legal systems studied, either expressly in legislation or through case law and legal theory. The following issues are examined: the parties' right to propose evidence, the court's obligation to take proposed evidence, the manners of enabling parties to access certain means of evidence (classified evidence, blind and partially-sighted persons, experts) and the sanctions for the violation of the right to be heard. Various electronic communication technologies can be used in modern civil proceedings both to present evidence in court and to enable the parties to make a statement in relation to the evidence presented. The use of video- or audiolinks presents many issues when the parties, witnesses or experts to be heard, or other evidence to be examined in a teleconference, are located outside of the court’s jurisdiction. This raises the question of the relevant procedural law to be used in cross-border relations. The general finding of the article is that variations between national regulations in relation to this principle are mainly due to ‘technical’ characteristics of the national regulation of civil procedure, rather than a result of fundamental differences in its underlying principles.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14840401