FAILING FIRM DEFENCE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF COMPATIBILITY OF CONCENTRATIONS WITH COMPETITION RULES

Magistrsko diplomsko delo obravnava problematiko presoje skladnosti koncentracij, ki vključujejo propadajoče podjetje, s pravili konkurence. Tovrstne transakcije v konkurenčno pravnem kontekstu terjajo posebno obravnavo, saj zahtevajo primerjavo dveh hipotetičnih tržnih scenarijev, in sicer scenarija po izpeljani transakciji in alternativnega scenarija, po katerem bi podjetje propadlo in trg zapustilo. Tako v Združenih državah Amerike, kot tudi v Evropski uniji, se pri ocenjevanju teh transakcij konkurenčni organi poslužujejo vnaprej določenih kriterijev, ki morajo biti izpolnjeni, da se lahko na podlagi utemeljitve propadajočega podjetja odobri sicer sporna transakcija. Magistrsko diplomsko delo je sestavljeno iz treh sklopov. Prvi je posvečen analizi uveljavljenih pristopov v obeh sistemih, pri čemer se osredotoča na kritiko vzpostavljenih kriterijev, kot so uveljavljeni v Evropski uniji. Drugi sklop je posvečen analizi različnih pristopov, ki so se skozi zgodovino uveljavili v obeh sistemih, in skuša s pomočjo izpostavljenih pomanjkljivosti kriterijev identificirati, kateri pristop bi omogočal najboljšo korekcijo trenutno uveljavljenih pristopov in bi bil tako optimalen za presojo tovrstnih transakcij. Tretji sklop skuša vzpostaviti pravno podlago za identificiran optimalen pristop v okviru veljavnega prava Evropske unije.Master\u27s thesis examines the issue of the assessment of compatibility of concentrations involving a failing company with competition rules. Such transactions require a special treatment in the merger control context as they require the comparison of two hypothetical market scenarios, namely the scenario after the implementation of the transaction under consideration and the scenario in which the failing company fails and exits the market. In the United States of America as well as in the European Union the competition authorities review such transaction through the examination of whether certain pre-established conditions are met in order to approve a transaction that is otherwise questionable. The Master’s thesis consists of three parts. The first one centres around the analysis of the established approaches in both legal systems with particular focus on the critique of the conditions under the European Union legal framework. The second part analyses different approaches established in both systems through history. Considering the identified weaknesses of the established conditions it endeavours to identify the approach that would enable the best correction of the present approach and represent the optimal solution for the merger review of such transactions. The third part aims to identify the legal basis for the identified optimal approach within the presently valid European Union law