God and His Mission

Eileen Paulino One of seven virtues of ancient Greek times was faith. Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Regardless of where we are in our lives we always maintain faith that we will either advance in life or things will simply get better. I myself didn’t always have faith I didn’t think that if I wanted something bad enough it would happen for me. I always looked around at my surroundings and saw myself as a Hispanic female with goals and ambition who no matter how hard she worked wouldn’t amount to much because to most of the world around me I was simply that a Hispanic female from the Bronx.There was definitely a time when I lost all faith in myself my world seemed to be crashing down right before my eyes. On August 11th of 2009 I lost someone who was very important to me, my uncle. We were so much alike sthrong personalities and two people who wanted more in life and had faith that somehow or some way we would provide better for ou r families. I was much younger but losing him caused me to want to give up I didn’t understand why it was that he had been taken from me he was one of a couple of people of who had faith in me and how far I could go in life see I’ve always had a passion for fashion.For along as I can remember it has been a great part of me. When I lost my uncle I felt as though I hadn’t done enough while he was around and that now I was being punished with having to deal with his lost and a family who was devastated. My mother had lost her brother and my grandmother her eldest son for so long their faces had no idea as to what a smile was and seeing my mother and grandmother so down caused great change in me.I no longer was doing well in school and for the first time in my life I stopped drawing and fashion wasn’t as important to me anymore. As time progressed I wasn’t getting any better I had tried to make myself believe that my uncle was still on vacation in the Dominican Republic and that he would be back but these unrealistic hopes as time went by became just that I was being faced with the fact that he was gone. My mother soon enough began to see me giving up on my dream and that I was not doing well in school anymore and it started to tear her apart.My mother was and still is my biggest cheerleader when I didn’t have faith in myself she did so why was I letting her down? At some point it hit me that everything happens for a reason and that my uncle was in a better place he as no longer suffering and regardless he was looking down on me and he wouldn’t have liked for me to give on my dream so I needed to have faith in myself that I could go on and that regardless of how the rest of the world perceives me I can become someone.There’s no reason to lose faith because life handed me a tough time I realized this should motivate me to have more faith in myself and who I believed I was destined to be. I began to do better i n school and started to draw again, fashion is my calling and I should’ve never lost faith my myself. Till this day although I’m still very young have so much more to learn and I haven’t accomplished my dream I don’t lose faith in that one day I will and that’s all thanks to my mother.My mother was born and raised in the Dominican republic and she always had faith that her life will someday turn around and when she had her family she would provide them with a better life then she was given and till this day she hasn’t failed us, she’s been the best mother anyone could ever ask for and for my lifetime I’ll be grateful she never lost faith in me because thanks to her I didn’t lose faith in myself and I’m still fighting for my dream.The first reading I came across with my professor this semester was â€Å"Sherman Alexie The Joy of Reading and Writing : Superman and me†, this is a short story about a Spokane In dian who’s will to be better and great faith in himself allowed for great success to come his was regardless of the challenges he faced in his earlier life.

Guns, Germs and Steel Essay

The book Guns, Germs and Steel is an interesting impression of Jared Diamond to challenge and refresh our outlook towards the effect of politics to cultural and individual development as based from historical and theoretical concept. JD is a physiologist and evolutionary biologist and has made this work on a broader scope during his explorations in New Guinea to study the culture as well as the environment of the people. It started out in a prologue while Jared travels with his friend Yali, a New Guinean and questions the diminutive cargo of the locals against the bulk of cargos of the Eurasians. JD tried to explain to Yali by answering him with historical and theoretical views according to his research. JD said that while the natives own the land and the resources, the foreigners are capable of dominance because they are superior in technology as can be seen with their tools and machinery. But JD explained to Yali that what he sees is not proof of the superiority of the Eurasians over the natives but rather the opposite. JD said that Yali’s people are actually smarter and adaptable to any environment because they live in a world that has requires critical survival. Chapter 1 of the book discusses the origin of man and their discovery of tools and art as depicted from their paintings. JD theorizes that man made a great leap and used his intelligence 50,000 years ago as found on skeletons found in Australia and New Guinea. Accordingly, the Americans were probably colonized during 11,000 BC which correspond to the final stage of the Pleistocene Era and the melting of the ice in the last Ice Age. Chapter 2 details the war between the Maoris against the Morioris in Polynesia as early as 1835 in the Chatham islands and. Polynesia during that period has different set of climates, geography, resources and political and social conditions which lead to less diversification of human populations to be able to adapt in their environment. Chapter 3 details the conquest of European Francisco Pizarro and his men to capture Atahuallpa, the Inca emperor at Cajamarca, Peru in 1532. The superior weapons and their armor which were made of steel and the horses and cavalry pushes the natives out of their place while the Europeans brought along with them diseases such as smallpox and eventually infected and killed another native emperor of different tribe. JD pointed out that people of dominant culture has the foremost advantage over those who are less in technology and political organization as the Incas does not have. On Chapter 4 of the book, JD significantly emphasizes the importance of agriculture to propel the development of a fragile society because with the increase of food production there is a room for population to grow larger and stronger. Enough supply of food can sustain people to be more vigorous and organize themselves without resorting to violence to survive. An organized society can form political government to protect its people against conquest such as JD pointed out. In chapter 5, the author describes the technology of calibrating sites for food production by naming sites and crops suitable to grow in their environment while in chapter 6, 7 and 8 discusses his confidence the possibility of converting native hunters into agriculturist because of degeneration of wild games and animals in their environment. He said that there are already great varieties of plants and animals that can be domesticated and cultured and there is no need to hunt for food for a family to survive. JD gave an example in chapter 9 and 10 the success of the Indians in domesticating animals and prevents the extinction of wild animals in their forest. He said that breeding animals is one of the most accepted principles in domesticating animals that even wild species of animals can be bred in captivity. But this depends on the adaptability of animals with the climatic conditions on certain locality. Lack of animal adaptation means limited domestication and cultivation of animals and plants. The New World on the other hand is located on a tropical zone therefore people have more favorable climatic conditions as compared with the Eurasian countries. However, major infectious diseases or what JD calls â€Å"killers of humanity† mainly comes from animals men domesticates. He said that small pox originates from cowpox, flu from pigs and ducks and tuberculosis from cattle. These are only few of the negative impact on the cultivation of livestock by man that even people in the cities are not safe from certain diseases as they kept animals as pets. Industrialization gave man endemic diseases because he attracts germ carrying pests and we now have yellow fever, hookworm, bubonic plague and many other diseases transmitted by pests. Man also is a carrier of pest and diseases to his fellow human such as the body lice, sexually transmitted disease and other human infections. The following chapters introduced the origins of writings in early period of Mesoamerica and most part of Asia. JD significantly highlights necessity as the mother of invention and the invention of writings lead to the invention of the technology and then to arms for weapons and destruction. He said that the introduction of technology was also the beginning of civilizations to colonize other civilizations, destroying their population and their culture. The author also reviews the societal form of organization on a certain level which starts from the smaller faction or the band. The â€Å"band† is composed of people that are usually related by blood, nomadic in nature and have one ethnicity and language and no more than 5 to 80 people bonded together to be form a small society. The â€Å"tribe†, however has more people with fixed community, one ethnicity and language but being led by a leader in a societal form of government such as tribe in New Guinea and Australia . The â€Å"group† leads to chiefdoms and then to a larger extent which forms the state. The â€Å"state† have more than 50,000 people living in various villages, class and residence-based relationships. They also have more than one language, have centralized bureaucratic government levels and politicians to man the government, the law and the state. States have also their police and militaries to protect its citizenry against injustice. This was discussed on chapter 14. Chapter 15 to 16 depicts the Australian and New Guinean’ climate where Yali belongs. These two countries were formerly united as one large mass of land but separated because of the effect of large body of water 10,000 years ago. The following chapters discuss how China became the China of today which brought by forced unification of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Continuous fighting and dominance of Asian ethnicities in old China produces mixed races of different Asian origins but came up to have one traditional language which is the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Among these languages is the Mandarin. Chapter 17 is explained by JD on how the islands of the Pacific were able to be colonized by the Asians who arrived in New Guinea around 40,000 BC. This Asian group composes the ancestors of Philippine Negritos and formerly called the Austronesian. Their migrations began from China, reached Taiwan and then the Philippines at around 3000 BC. Those who came to Sumatra and Java became the Malayo-Polynesian while those who arrived in Northern New Guinea and Samoa became the Samoans. JD reviews on chapter 18 the factors which led to the European conquering Americas. The Europeans are better in food production, domestication of animals, producing metals and weapons, organization of armies, transportation and communication and solid political organization which the people of early America lacks. The people of the New World such as New Guinea, however are more primitive and backward and lacks capabilities to organize themselves. This was the reason why the Europeans or the Eurasians have been able to establish their colony in their nation without conflict and resistance. And finally chapter 19 discusses how the people of Africa came to be blacks. Accordingly, in the previous era, North Africans were whites who resemble Middle Eastern and Europeans and speak Afro-Asiatic languages. The pygmies or small black African people are mostly confined to Central Africa but were outnumbered by indigenous people. The blacks occupy only most of the Saharan Africa but extended their occupancy to the East coast to Cape town. From there they began to cultivate crops and domesticate animals and expand largely in numbers. The epilogue of this book answers Yali’s question on why whites have been so successful with their trades and always have larger cargos compared with the locals on a shipping trade comes to conclusion. The book answers his question by chapters and details. The effect of geographical formation and the environment clearly emphasizes the commencement of dominance by the Eurasian whites. Dominance factors illustrates the capability of the Eurasian to domesticate plant and animals better than the people of the New World, the speed of their technology which also sped up the rates of migration and their concrete population and size of their continents enable them to migrate and search for more opportunities to other continents. Furthermore, JD wants to search further with his study to come up with more variables that could defend his theory. He believes that he can only do this through natural historical experiments that need to be researched. These involve the history of human societies which are always intricate to understand than the lost dinosaurs of the old world (McGoodwin). Work Cited: McGoodwin, Michael. â€Å"Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs and Steel. † (2000). April 10, 2008 .

Anishinaabe social movements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Anishinaabe social movements - Essay Example Efforts by the Canadian government to resettle the Anishinabe people so as to limit them to reservations that only handled farming was leading factor to the problems they had to endure. Initially, they practiced fishing and game hunting to support their livelihood. Their land was looted in an effort to force them to other places and pave a way for copper mining. The government promised to pay the Anishinabe once they moved to the reservations. Such promises and those of proper education for their children was not fulfilled hence creating dissatisfaction from the people. Individuals who had also settled on their previous land had made their way into the reserves taking over their source of livelihood. Constructions were built on land destroying fishing sites. The permanent homes they had been promised earlier on were not honored. Equipment and carpentry tools were not also given to the people hence making their lives miserable. The Anishinabe social movements started as a result of su ch issues from the Canadian government (Government of Canada, pg.1). The aboriginal people also commonly referred to as the first people formed a number of social movements to champion for their rights. The Native Americans had been deprived of their land, and most of it given to the British and French Traders. Strict regulations were also put in place so as to curtail the efforts of the First people to get pieces of land. The increasing numbers of settlers in the areas made them push for the Aboriginal people to surrender their land to them. The other reason for the formation of social movements was to advocate for proper education for their children. As it is presently, the First Nations people did not have access to the kind of education the Europeans had. The Indian Act of 1876 had its introduction making it difficult for the First Nations people to get quality education and other social services in the country. Unlike the past treaties that were as a result of negotiations

The experiences of American Civil War Veterans in April 1865 Research Paper

The experiences of American Civil War Veterans in April 1865 - Research Paper Example Coming home after four years of war must have had a lasting impact on the veterans. Posttraumatic stress, loneliness and physical injury were some of the things they went through. In other words, they literally went through hell. It must have killed them inside to know that they had to put on a bright face to reassure their loved ones and the nation as well that everything was okay. As evidenced from the wide range of memoirs, autobiographies and civil war diaries present in the annals of American history, individual experiences of the soldiers varied. As their experiences varied, so did their sentiments, hopes and future aspiration. Perhaps, one thing that they shared was a sense of pride and nationalism. The war was finally over. Confederate General Robert Lee had surrendered his authority to the Union under LTG U.S. Grant on April 9, 1865. Background In order to achieve clarity, it is important to place the civil war into its proper historical context. This begins with an understa nding that the issue of slavery in the United States was in the center of the worst internal conflict the country has ever experienced. The plantation elite, most of who were in the South ripping the benefits of slavery and forced labor in their tobacco, wheat and sugarcane plantation lacked the enthusiasm to relinquish their slave. They openly opposed abolition and maintained that it was within their rights to own property. Their argument was that abolition was repugnant to the constitutional right to own property. However, due to the rise of humanitarianism, the issue of slave ownership came under sharp criticism amid calls for the abolition of slavery. The anti-slavery campaign was the ethical cornerstone of the Republican presidential campaign in 1860 spearheaded by Abraham Lincoln1. Upon ascension to presidency, Lincoln vowed to champion for the emancipation of all slaves in the spirit of protecting human dignity under the ‘all men are equal’ mantra. The subsequent election of Abraham Lincoln angered a section of Southern states for fear that Lincoln would make good on his abolition pledge. In 1861, South Carolina alongside ten other Southern states wrote to the federal government declaring their intention to secede from the continental USA. Subsequently, the eleven states declared their secession after forming the Confederate States of America. The period that ensued is considered the mother of all internal conflicts. The resultant series of upheavals claimed the lives of thousands of American civilians and soldiers and leaving property worth millions of dollars destroyed. Slavery was central in the American civil war since the South remained adamant to relinquish their slaves even after Lincoln issued the historic Emancipation Proclamation after provoking his presidential powers. The president pushed for the inclusion of emancipation in the constitutional definition of liberty2. This marked the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. A frican American slaves fled from their owners and sought refuge in the Union camps as the war raged on. It is prudent to underscore the significance of the issue of slavery since it was the sole reason behind the conflict. April 1865 Going by the memoirs, books, journals and diaries of veteran soldiers, the period beginning April 9 to April 30 was poignantly etched in the minds of the entire nation. This was a period of uncertainty and the atmosphere was tense. Historians believe that

Art history blog Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Art history blog - Assignment Example The fundamental difference between Pollock’s paintings and the traditional paintings is that unlike the traditional paintings, there is little respect of any boundaries in Pollock’s paintings. His paintings have the power to provide the audience with a way out of the materialistic world into a world which Pollock created using his exceptional sense of art. As Kaprow mentions in his article, Pollock’s art is unique in that it tends to break free of the constraints of the materialistic world in terms of looks, impulse and meanings, this feature of Pollock’s art adds many metaphysical and superficial properties to it. Kaprow puts a question in front of the audience that now that Pollock has died, it is for us to decide what do we do with the kind of art Pollock proposed. Kaprow himself offered two alternatives for this in the same article. The first one suggests that Pollock’s art be taken further. This can be achieved by varying his esthetic without g oing away from it. The second alternative suggests that the making of paintings according to the conventional concept of oval or rectangle painting be given

Health Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Health Reform - Research Paper Example Secondary data or historical data are the kind of data that is previously gathered for some study or project, which built specially for that particular project (Zikmund, 2003, p Nd). In regards to this research, the secondary data used are gathered from the Internet, journals and other publications in order to get basic information about the nature of the health reformation within the organization. The research and the methodologies of this paper are basically qualitative in nature. The primary resources are there in this paper to prove the solid statements. However, the secondary resources are also very much important to prove the practical viewpoints of this particular paper. The data collection method is one of the most important actions in the organizational research work. The primary and secondary data are compiled in a proper blend to fetch the ultimate result. However, in this case the questionnaires were very much prominent. However, the proposed number of questions to be fil led for any research is around 25-30, where minimum 20-25 questions suppose to be answered to get a good result. However, the missing count can be taken as the margin of error, or their stipulated feedbacks could have taken as the average feedbacks. In this particular paper the five major methodologies for the research work are 1: Interview, 2: Surveys, 3: Focus group, 4: observation and 5: internal data. Among all of these the most important method is the interview and the survey. These two methods give the ultimate feedback of the employees towards the improvement of the health related issues within the organization. Data collection is one of the most important part I the research process. The data collection can be taken from the interview process of from the internal data or most of the time for the effective survey within the projected sample size for the research. However, all of the research methods are equally important prove the relevance of the research work and to predict the fruitful outcome of the research for the betterment of the health reform within the organizations. The relevance of the secondary data is very much important to justify this particular paper and that is the reason the selected five methodologies are chosen to collect the secondary data to support the study. All the five methods are discussed bellow. 1. Interview: In rearview has been taken as one of the most effective research method for collecting the secondary data from the focus group. Personal interview with the projected employees within the organization for their expectation and complains about the present health related issues are very much productive in case of finding the proper solution. There are some numbers of factors which are very much important for conducting an effective interview process. These number of factors need to be taken very seriously in designing the interview process. The basic concept of the interview is to exchange the verbal and written expressio n of the participant towards the projected questions (Watson, , p 282). The research interviews must be recorded so they can be analyzed afterwards. Most of the time, these interviews are generally audiotaped. The interviewed data are transcribed into text for the data analysis. In this case the different people from different organizations ate taken under consideration for the interview pro

Information Handling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Information Handling - Essay Example The source where accuracy posed the greatest problem was the marketing database.So I think usefulness informations need have accuracy and reliability, accuracy and reliability determine the quality of information."Information that is timely is available when it is needed for managerial action, not after the decision has been made" (Gareth, 2000,P614) In today's speedily changing world and technology 's developing, lead to information changing frequently. Real-time Information is reflecting current conditions. (Gareth, 2000,P614) For example, productions' price changing frequently in marketing because manager wants to make profit in competition's marketing. So manager should be pay attention to information's changing. Catch Real-time information is very importance. Look at timeliness in accounting"Timeliness: accounting information should be made available to external decision-makers before it loses its capacity to influence decisions." (Dyckman, 1992, P44) Like the news of the world, old financial information never carries the same impact fresh information carries. Otherwise lack of timeliness reduces relevance."Information that is complete gives managers all the information they need to exercise control, achieve coordination, or make an effective decision." (Gareth, 2000,P615) information's completive will provided good help to manager to decision. When you set up a new business, look at complete information is importance. Such as, how is this productions sold, how long can make profit.

Whole Foods Market Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Whole Foods Market - Case Study Example This case study provides a different look at the situation, wherein the specificity of the supplies is what gives the product and services of WFM its value. Following the turn of the millennium the market for natural and organic food sales shifted from niche to mainstream. Once considered excessive in terms of cost and unimportant in terms of health, WFM pioneered and developed an industry that now accounts for more than 2.5%, or $13.8 billion in US food sales annually. This product line has shown greater growth in sales than traditional grocery offerings for the last several years. Further, studies indicate that this trend will continue into the future as the Baby Boomers reach senior status, their children enter middle age and their grandchildren reach adulthood. Each of these generations has enjoyed a greater degree of disposable income and exposure to higher education; factors which both play a major role in WFM’s market demographic. With that said, at the time this study was written, their organizational objective was to reach $12 billion in revenue and have more than 300 stores in operation (Harasta & Hoffman, n.d.). They w ere able to achieve only half of this objective by reaching 304 store locations domestically and another 12 internationally for a total of 316 current locations (â€Å"Our Stores,† n.d.). Unfortunately, while up 12% from 2009, they fell short of their fiscal goals reaching $9 billion in sales in 2010 (McCann, 2010); however with only half of the 2011 fiscal year gone they have significantly overtaken the half-way mark of 2010 by already producing $5.4 billion in sales (McCann, 2011). WFM face three pivotal issues that are hindering their ability to expand at a faster pace: Increased competition, rigid target market requirements and a limited supply of natural and organic goods.  Currently, they control 47% of organic food sales in the US; however similar vendors and national supermarket chains have taken notice of the profitability of natural products and entered the market with varying degrees of success.

Television Media Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Television Media - Term Paper Example The last nineteen twenties saw the first successful experimentations of the electronic television. Designed by Philo Taylor, who had a vision of inventing a system that captured moving images that could be coded and transmitted onto a screen, it was a great success. The first image transmitted was a simple line and the dollar sign which he captured with a primitive camera. RCA, which dominated the radio business in the United States, invested fifty million dollars into the development of the television set. The company hired Vladimir Kosma to hasten the development and in nineteen thirty nine RCA televised the launching of the New York Fair. It included a speech by President Roosevelt who became the first head of State to be on television. The first television sets RCA sold had five by twelve inch picture tubes and broadcasted regular programs. This included televising of the first baseball game. The game was between Columbia and Princeton universities. The Second World War slowed down the development of television but by the nineteen fifties there was a growth in television stations and most homes in the United States could receive broadcasts. NBC and CBS were among the first stations and they aired news and programs such as â€Å"The Jack Benny Show† between nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty five (Angelova, 2011). Through the decades there was great development in the television set and soon the tubes had bigger screens with clear imaging. More television stations came up and the television industry became a major industry in the United States. Television programs made individuals everyday figures in people’s homesteads. Television was able to create a new type of hero; television and film stars, musicians and news anchors. The television made the conveying of news not on in the United States but across the world easy. Today, the television has come a long way and we have multi-billion dollar companies like Sony and Samsung who

Roles of Chinese Navy and Maritime, and Ming Treasure Ship Voyages Term Paper

Roles of Chinese Navy and Maritime, and Ming Treasure Ship Voyages - Term Paper Example China has had an extensive and storied marine heritage. The Chinese geography and its coastlines could not lend itself as a protected area where saltwater sailing could be practiced. The eastern part of the Chinese coastlines fairly considered sailing except during the typhoon season and the Taiwan Strait stays as the most hazardous water stretch in the globe for purposes further than that of defense. The Chinese coast has most of its parts jagged and rocky to allow mooring, and natural port are little and distant between. Ancient China was chiefly a sedimentary, seamanship and agricultural society was restricted to navigation. In 1135, the Nomadic people of the north subjugated several regional capitals and launched a fresh capital at Hangzhou on the southern part of the Chinese coast at the Yangtze River. This became the initial chief seaport of China. Despite, its reputation as both port city and imperial capital, the shift, to Hangzhou never created new values; it formed no new l ocate of attitudes regarding the ocean. 2 In 13th century, during the reign of Mongol, several seaborne attacks were started against Vietnam, Japan and Java. The number of the solders involved in these attacks was significant; the attack on Japan involved to 250,000 soldiers and close to 900 ships; the subsequent attack in 1281 included 4400 ships. Nevertheless, the scheme of a strong navy never took in majestic China.3 Some most tremendous achievements of the dynasty of Ming, controlled by Admiral Zheng, were not sufficient to warrant sustained exploration. The navy of the Chinese, therefore, assisted

Police Ethics Essay Example for Free

Police Ethics Essay All professions operate within a certain broad framework of code of ethics. These are rules that govern the conduct of a particular group of professionals, the conduct amongst themselves and most importantly with the rest of the society. Some of these codes of ethics may be legally enforceable and their violation may lead to criminal proceedings instituted against the violator. Contravening of the code of ethics may also lead to an individual’s name being struck off the professionals’ list like in the case of auditors, engineers and accountants amongst others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The police force has its own distinct code of ethics both implied and express. It is these ethics that regulate the conduct of all law enforcement officers in their day to day running of their duties. These ethics may be unique to one state or universal as they are a product of social and political environment. The United Nations has its own framework of ethics within which the police or law enforcement officers are supposed to operate. These are ethics that have been fine tuned and can be universally applied (United Nations, 1989).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Police is a broad term used to denote all officers mandated to enforce the law, officers that can make arrests as well as detain a suspect.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is agreeable that police officers are charged with the delicate duty of maintaining law and order. In the course of maintaining such order, they are bound to come across various challenges and impediments that may make them compromise their legal duties. Police exist in an environment filled with suspicion and hostility and with the powers they possess; they are likely to intimidate the rest of the citizens. They also have discretionary powers as it is not possible to spell out and dictate in the law how a certain issue is to be handled. They are expected to make split decision over who is innocent and who needs to be questioned (Hirst, M.J., 1990).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To carry out these duties, they are governed by professional ethics that guide them when carrying out their duties. In the process of carrying out these duties, police officers are expected to uphold and protect the human rights of the civilians and suspects. This is in conformity to both the national and international law. Their duty is to safeguard the interests of the public and assist public officials in the execution of their duties. These duties and responsibilities should be carried out in line with the laid procedures. Objectivity and fairness are two key ideals that should be upheld and personal interests should not conflict the efficiency in carrying out of such responsibilities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Key to police ethics is the issue of discrimination. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are expected to carry out their duties indiscriminately. They are guided by the law and it should not be applied selectively. Gender, race, social and political status, creed or ethnic background should not be used as a basis to accord somebody harsh or preferential treatment. Almost all professions are expected to uphold confidentiality in their interactions with the public. Police officers too are not expected to reveal private details not unless it has been established that publicizing such details will help in the line of duty, for example in apprehending a suspect. The procedures and operations of the police officers should remain within the forces precincts as the release of such information can lead to jeopardizing of important missions. Every police officer is hence bound to confidentiality. No data regarding the police should be released to another party without proper authorization (Miller, S. et al, 1997.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Police officers are expected to use reasonable force in carrying out their duties. This however does not extend to malicious damage to property, unwarranted harassment of the pubic and any other measures that are not within the precincts of what is unavoidable in the line of duty. The force applied should not go beyond what is necessary and reasonable in carrying out such kind of an activity. The police ethics are against the subjection of suspected criminals to brutality that is outside the stipulations of the law.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hierarchy in the police force is legally and ethically emphasized. Orders and commands in the force always take downward route. As long as the orders given are lawful and do not contravene the ethics, an officer is under obligation carry them out. The superiors on the other hand are expected to have full responsibility of the actions of their juniors in regard to the instruction that they have issued. Codes of ethics also do not allow police officers to accept gifts that are attached to their work, in case of such an offer; they are expected to notify their superiors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is also against police ethics for officers to carry out investigations into issues that they have personal connections with unless such involvement is not likely to have a bearing on the investigations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Objectivity is to be upheld at all times. As far as suspects are concerned, police ethics require the officers to treat suspects humanely in the knowledge that they are innocent until proven guilty. There should also be enough grounds to necessitate the arrests of such suspects (Bracey, D.H, 1992).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like in any other profession, personal feelings and prejudices are bound to get into the way of efficiency and professionalism. Law enforcement officers sometimes find themselves in ethical dilemmas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are four classifications of dilemmas; among these discretion and loyalty are the most common. Police are allowed discretionary authority in their line of duty. These are powers to choose the most appropriate decision to make in a specific case. This is where personal intuition comes at play and in many cases lead to selective application of the law. A policeman is supposed to chose who to charge with a certain crime and who to leave. In making such a decision, personal preferences and prejudices may impede on the process of making of the right judgment as required by law. This is a very common dilemma (Blalock, J., 1992.).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Blacks and Hispanic community have been complaining of harassment by the police. The crime rates in the United States are that these two communities have a high prevalence rate in crime, with such a notion in the back of a policeman mind; an officer is bound to have a clouded judgment in his view of any person from these communities. With his or her discretionary authority, a police officer is more likely to arrest a black in the midst of whites in case of a fracas more than he would to a white who is amongst blacks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personal interests are also likely to stand in the way of executing proper judgments. This is complicated by the temptation to take bribes. It is against police ethics and also against the law for police officers to solicit or accept a bribe. References Hirst, M.J., 1990. Setting the Standards for Policing: Meeting Community Expectations, London, Association of Chief Police Officers. United Nations, 1989. United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, New York Miller, Seumas, Blackler, John, Alexandra, Andrew, 1997. Police Ethics, Sydney: Allen Unwin.. Blalock, J., 1992. Mismanagement and Corruption. Police Studies 15(4). Bracey, D.H, 1992. Police Corruption and Community Relations: Community Policing. Police Studies 15(4).

Texting and Driving vs. Drunk Driving Essay Example for Free

Texting and Driving vs. Drunk Driving Essay Texting and Driving vs. Drunk Driving Over the last century, technology has helped society move forward, making things faster and easier. Having a vehicle has allowed people to reach a destination faster than they would if they had to ride a bike or even walk. Also the ability to now text using a cell phone speeds up the communication process even more. With all the new technological advances you have to many people taking advantage of it; by texting while they are driving to make business or personal communications even faster. On the other hand you have a new technological advance combined with the alcohol that has been around for ages. Drinking brings out a different side in every person. You have some people that are happy, outgoing, or funny drinkers. Then you have some people that are mad drinkers that want to fight any body that makes a joke about them. Last but certainly not least you have the stupid drinkers; these are the type of people that after drinking decide to get in their car and try and drive and put not only their selves, but many other people in danger. Both texting and driving, and driving under the influence are very dangerous, considering that you could not only kill yourself, but many more people also; but which is worse? The low number of scientific studies may be indicative of a general assumption that if talking on a mobile phone increases risk, then texting also increases risk, and probably more so, 89% of U. S. adults think that text messaging while driving is distracting, dangerous, and should be outlawed. (â€Å"Verifiabilityâ€Å")The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has released pol ling data that show that 87% of people consider texting and e-mailing while driving a very serious safety threat, almost equivalent to the 90% of those polled who consider drunk driving a threat. †. So why do people continue to text and drive and drive while intoxicated. With all test that have been conducted and the scary results, I don’t understand how people could stand to put their own lives at risk everyday. Another test conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory in London took it a step further. It found that drivers who sent a text had slower response times, and were more likely to drift in and out of lanes compared to drivers who were intoxicated. The study found that reaction times for those who sent a text while driving were 35 percent worse than when they drove without any distractions at all. When driving while intoxicated, the reaction time was only 12 percent worse than when the driver was sober and driving without any texting distractions (â€Å"Neiger†). The third test showed; At 35 miles an hour, Mr. Alterman’s average reaction time was . 57 seconds, but while texting it rose to 1. 36 seconds, more than twice his average reaction time of . 64 seconds while under the influence. Mr. Brown fared better, but his average reaction time of . 45 seconds rose to . 52 seconds while texting, worse than his average time of . 6 seconds while driving drunk. The results of the tests at 70 miles an hour were better in terms of reaction times. But at highway speeds, the extra distance traveled before coming to a complete stop was much greater. For example, Mr. Alterman traveled an average of four feet farther while driving drunk and an average of 70 feet farther while texting(â€Å"Changâ€Å"). As a research shows, texting and driving is much worse than driving while drunk. When you drive drunk it makes your reaction time a little slower and throws your balance off a little bit. But on the other hand texting and driving is much worse because, when you send or read a text you are taking your eyes completely of the road. Taking your eyes off the road can result in a very fatal car crash if you were to drift into the other lane, or if someone just decides to pull out in front of you; how would you know about it? Even though drunk driving is better than texting and driving, neither one of the two need to be done because you never know what could happen, and how many people you can hurt.

Economic Globalisation and Competition

Economic Globalisation and Competition 1. Introduction Competition is a vital mechanism of the market economy and is an efficient means of guaranteeing consumers a level of quality in terms of the value and price of products and services. Economic globalization has increased volatile growth within international trade and as a result in subject of competition law. Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty ‘prohibits agreements between undertakings; decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which prevent restrict or distort competition’. These agreements shall be void according to 81(2). However, the agreements which satisfy the conditions set out in article 81(3) EC shall not be prohibited, no prior decision to that effect being required. 1.1. Anti-Competitive Agreements Article 81 of the EC Treaty, prohibiting anti-competitive agreements, must be considered in relation to all commercial agreements with a probable EU cross-border impact. The Horizontal and the Vertical agreements are the agreements, which are relevant for the purposes of the application of the competition rules. Horizontal agreements are those between undertakings operating at the same level of production or marketing, while vertical agreements are those completed between undertakings operating at different economic levels. Under EC Competition Law, restrains included in vertical agreements are regarded as not as much damaging than those included in horizontal agreements. In Consten and Grundig v Commission the European Court of Justice considered that Article 81(1) EC applies not only to horizontal agreements but also to vertical agreements. The later decisional practice of the Commission on the treatment of vertical arrangements under Art 81(1) and 81(3) EC, and the case law of the Community Courts, have been one of the most controversial and severely criticized aspects of Community competition policy. These agreements are very important for the functioning of the economy. Commercial agreements may be exempted from the application of article 81(1) under article 81(3). 1.2. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation However, there is a ‘safe harbour’ for undertakings: the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation 2790/1999. Safe harbours exist for certain agreements including restrictions providing conditions are met so that agreements falling within the terms of the Regulation are exempt from the application of Article 81(1) EC guaranteeing the enforceability of the agreement and granting protection from antitrust prosecution. Thus, if undertakings wish to be certain that their vertical agreements are in line with EC competition law, they should agree on clauses within the scope of the Regulation. Outside this safe harbour, the European Commission’s Notice Guidelines on Vertical Restraints are a helpful guide for the assessment under Art 81(3) EC and are explaining the application of Regulation 2790/1999 and the Commission’s approach to vertical restraints. The Guidelines on Vertical Restraints sets out the principles for the assessment of vertical agreements under Article 81, including the application of the Regulation to vertical agreements. Article 2(1) of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation gives the definition of vertical agreements and states that Article 81(1) shall not apply to ‘agreements or concerted practices entered into between two or more undertakings each of which operates, for the purposes of the agreement, at a different level of the production or distribution chain, and relating to the conditions under which the parties may purchase, sell or resell certain goods or services’. The Commission adopted the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation on 1999 and the new Block Exemption Regulation is expected in 2010. Modifications might remain quite limited and might concern, especially, the presentation of more certain rules on e-commerce, on internet sales and the treatment of resale price maintenance. 1.3. Scope of Application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation The objective of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is to exempt certain categories of vertical agreements that, under certain conditions, may improve economic efficiency within a production or distribution chain and is directed at vertical agreements for the purchase or sale of goods or services. The Regulation covers various vertical agreements and applies to any type of agreement entered into companies, which do not operate at the same level of the production or distribution chain. Agreements are covered by the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation on franchising, selective distribution, exclusive dealing, exclusive purchasing, exclusive supply, and non-genuine agency agreements within the scope of Article 81. An agency agreement falls outside article 81(1) where the agent bears no or only insignificant risks in relation to either of these matters. Article 81(1) does not apply to certain agreements or concerted practices entered into between two or more undertakings. The concept of an undertaking was discussed in Hofner and Elser v Matrocton. It was stated that: â€Å"The concept of an undertaking encompasses every entity engaged in economic activity regardless of the legal status of the entity and the way it is financed†. The definition of competing undertakings in Article 1(b) includes actual or potential suppliers in the same product market. The exclusion may be quite wide and uncertain in application. In Tetra Pack I it was considered that a contract within the terms of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation enjoys exemption from Article 81(1), but not from article 82 unless the Commission withdraws the exemption for the future, with a decision. The Regulation does not apply, however, to vertical agreements to rent and lease agreements, as no sale takes place and to agreements which have as their primary object the licensing of intellectual property rights, nor automobile distribution agreements, nor agreements between competitors, except if they are ancillary to a vertical agreement and facilitate the purchase, sale or resale of the contract goods or services by the buyer and vertical agreements whose subject matter falls within the scope of another block exemption regulation. Also, the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not cover any restrictions or obligations that do not relate to the conditions of purchase, sale and resale. The Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements with a subject matter that falls within the scope of any other Block Exemption Regulation. The application of the Regulation, in certain circumstances, can be withdrawn by a decision of the European Commission, or the national competition authorities. Also, the European Commission can enact a regulation declaring the Regulation usually inapplicable to certain agreements including specific restraints. 1.4. Agreements between Competitors The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not cover vertical agreements that are concluded on a reciprocal basis between competitors. This exclusion may be very broad because it includes both actual and potential competitors, with the latter being defined as companies that would be able and likely to enter the market within one year. Vertical agreements between competitors are covered by the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation if the agreement is non-reciprocal and the buyer has a turnover not exceeding â‚ ¬100 million or the buyer is not a manufacturer of competing goods but only a competitor of the supplier at the distribution level. Also, are covered and where the supplier is a provider of services operating at several levels of trade, while the buyer does not provide competing services at the level of trade where it purchases the contract services. 1.5. Summary Article 81(1) EC prohibits agreements which have anti-competitive effects. By enacting the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation, the Commission has establish ‘safe harbors’ for undertakings, that outline conditions regarding when vertical agreements and concerted practices that have an anti-competitive purpose or results and would be prohibited under article 81(1) might be acceptable because they satisfy the criteria of article 81(3). When an agreement fulfills the conditions set out in the Regulation, the agreement is valid and enforceable. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is a measure under European Union law that grants an exemption from the application of Article 81. Agreements that meet the conditions set out in the Regulation are considered either not to adversely affect competition on the relevant European market(s) or only to affect competition to a limited degree. It is now time to examine if the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation has worked and whether the Regulation and the vertical Guidelines are need any modification, and, if so, what have to be done. PART I Requirements of the Application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation contains certain requirements that have to be satisfied before, for the vertical agreement is able to benefit from the Regulation. The market share of the supplier must not exceed 30% (Article 3). Also the agreement must not contain any of the hard-core restrictions (Article 4). Finally, the Regulation contains conditions relating to three certain restrictions (Article 5). 2. The Market Share Cap The Market Share threshold is probably one of the most important provisions of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. In Article 3(1) is stated that ‘the market share held by the supplier does not exceed 30% of the relevant market on which it sells the contract goods or services’. Also, Article 3(2) states that ‘in the case of vertical agreements containing exclusive supply obligations, the exemption provided for in Article 2 shall apply on condition that the market share held by the buyer does not exceed 30% of the relevant market on which it purchases the contract goods or services’. In Telenor/Canal+/Canal Digital the 30% rule prevented the application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. The market share threshold is aimed to reduce regulatory burdens from those businesses that, according to Bishop and Ridyard, ‘could not behave anti-competitively even if they tried’. The introducing of a market share cap was one the most hotly contested aspects of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. Businesses and its lawyers argued that such a rule would be unworkable, since it is so difficult to establish market shares with any degree of precision, particularly in rapidly developing markets. However, the Commission insisted that there was no better means of ensuring that the benefit of the Block Exemption, did not go to firms with too much market power, and the market share cap stayed, albeit in the form of a single threshold of 30%, rather that two of 20% and of 40% which had been proposed in an earlier draft. If the market share of the parties exceeds the 10% threshold described in the De Minimis Notice, Article 81(1) EC will normally not apply to the agreement if the product is new or if the existing product is sold for the first time on a different geographic market. One factor which may have assisted the Commission in prevailing was the fact that while discussions on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation were going on, it published its white paper on procedural modernization in the application of articles 81 and 82 EC, which proposed the abolition of the notification system altogether. This may have led some to feel less strongly about the content of the Regulation. 2.1. Calculating the Market Share In order to calculate the market share there must be identified the manufactured goods and geographic markets. Regarding market definition, the general rules apply. On the relevant market, the supplier calculates its market share by comparing its turnover achieved on that market with the total value of sales on that market. However, the benefit of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation will, subject to certain conditions, not always be lost if the market share exceeds the 30% threshold. In Rewe/Meinl the European Commission considered that a supplier is in a situation of â€Å"economic dependence† when the buyer accounts for over a 22% market share and thus buyer power might distort competition. John De Gregorio, European counsel for consumer goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corporation, has stated: ‘With the introduction of market share thresholds to the block exemption analysis, it’s more important than ever for in-house counsel to know how the Commission and European courts may define the â€Å"relevant market† for the goods that your company manufactures and sells, and to be comfortable with the definition your company adopts’. 2.2. The De Minimis Doctrine and Agreements of Minor Importance In addition to the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and the Guidelines the Commission has issued a series of notices, called ‘Notices on agreements of minor importance’ which give guidance on the agreements which will escape Article 81(1), because the market share of each or both of the parties to the agreement is too small. The European Commission’s de minimis Notice states that no Article 81 subjects are raised by an agreement between undertakings where in vertical agreements the market share of each party to the agreement does not exceed 15% of the relevant market, or 5% for vertical agreements where access to the relevant market is foreclosed by the increasing effect of parallel networks of vertical agreements by several companies. The ‘de minimis’ notice sets the relevant threshold at 5% for horizontal agreements. Commercial agreements between parties where market shares exceed these thresholds might however not have a considerable effect on competition or might benefit from exemption. Nevertheless, the presumption in the de minimis Notice will not apply if the commercial agreement contains hardcore restrictions. In Franz Volk v Establissments Vervaecke SPRL the 0.6% of market share in washing machines considered insignificant. In general, agreements taken between Small and Medium size Enterprisers are ‘de minimis’. Paragraph 3 of the Notice recognizes that agreements between small and medium-sized undertakings are rarely capable of appreciably affecting trade between Member States. Finally, Article 8 provides that the Commission can withdraw the benefit of Block Exemption where ‘50 % of a relevant market, contain specific restraints relating to that market. This Regulation shall not become applicable earlier than six months following its adoption’. 2.3. Market Power The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation states that, with some certain exceptions, all vertical restrains are acceptable unless they are coupled to significant market power. Market share thresholds are criticized to be uncertain because they need a definition of the market which is the reason why the idea of market share thresholds has been discarded in most systems. Also, the amount of market power can be considered by reference to market share. Scherer and Ross state that economic analysis shows that in most cases the welfare-reducing effects of vertical restrains depend on the degree of market power the involved firms have. If market shares are in general indicative of potential market power, they can never be considered without considering some other factors to achieve a reasonable assessment of market power for instance the barriers to entry and prospective competition and the characteristics of the oligopolistic dealings between businesses. The Commission in some of its judgments show that market shares do not equal market power. For example, in Alcatel-Telectra the Commission cleared a merger which gave the parties market shares of 83%. Also, in Rhone-Poulenc/SNIA the high degree of concentration was ought to weighed by the existence of rapid technology development. The most obvious issue, according to Professor Denis Waelbroeck, is to consider whether the system should not allow all vertical agreements which do not include hardcore restrictions, separately of the market share of the parties involved, and only apply a control under Article 82 EC in cases of dominance. That would remove the burden above the threshold for businesses to achieve a complex evaluation of their agreements under Article 81(1) and Article 81(3) EC and it will provide more legal certainty in this subject. In addition, the economic assessment required by the Guidelines on Vertical Restrains and the Guidelines on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty is challenging, and it is doubtful that many judges and parties will have the income or abilities to undertake it sufficiently, thus raising the danger of extensive, expensive and uncertain litigation. 2.4. Arguments about the Threshold The use of market shares as a key element of the Regulation’s treatment has been criticised as being possible to lead to uncertainty and unpredictability given the difficulties in defining the relevant market and market share. It may be argued that the threshold is too low or that it is improperly cast. Those who argue that the threshold is too low point out that the anti-competitive risks can arise only when there is a dominant firm. A non-dominant firm cannot increase rivals costs and cannot make damage to the consumers as they still benefit from inter-brand competition. Those who argue that the threshold is improperly cast would agree with the above criticism but bear in mind that anti-competitive effects can manifest themselves when there is the risk of oligopolistic interdependence. Bishop. and Ridyard state that an assessment of the market’s concentration would be more useful than the assessment of one players market share. Some argue that given the uncertainties over market definition, a market share threshold is not a substitute for a detailed analysis of whether the consumers suffer consequently of a particular practice but this might damage the effectiveness of the existing system which creates a safe harbour so that analytical incomes are allocated to those cases where anticompetitive effects are most possible to occur. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation creation of a market share threshold which the Regulation does not apply, limits manufacturing businesses that manufacture extremely innovative goods and want to sell them before other businesses have the chance to promote competitive goods into the market. In this situation, the manufacturing businesses with the extremely innovative goods might have a very high market share in a particular industry within a specific geographic area as no competing goods exist. However, as its market share is more than 30%, the manufacturing business is unable to take benefit from the Regulation and would be banned from effectively distributing and selling its manufactured goods in the market. 2.5. Removing the Threshold The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is unduly restrictive by setting the threshold at 30%. Many agreements thus escape the safe harbour though they are completely harmless from a competition law perspective. By removing the thresholds the sellers using private resellers may be penalised not as much as vertically integrate businesses. Also, abolishing the threshold would give more stability to the system because not all restrictions of competition under 81 are an abuse under 82. On the other hand, if the system is seen as too essential one may think a less radical change to the Regulation consisting of a differentiated approach identifying those clauses which can be problematic above 30% although the parties are not dominant. Those clauses which are always straightforward, even in cases of dominance and which thus essentially deserve an exemption and should not to be matter to any market share threshold and also those clauses which should never advantage from a group exemption even they are below 30%. 2.6. Summary The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation can simplify issues but also can cause difficulties. It makes issues simple as it offers the parties more flexibility in establishing their agreements and if a business’s market share is less than the related market share threshold the agreement will fall outside the scope of the competition rules or be qualified for exemption provided that it does not include hardcore restrictions. The Regulation can also cause difficulties as the parties’ market share must be verified in every case and this can be very hard in situations, for instance as those concerning new markets. Where the market share threshold is exceeded, issues become more difficult as the Regulation requires a complete evaluation of the agreement to define whether it would restrict competition under Article 81(1) and, if so, whether it would meet the requirements for an exemption under Article 81(3). This requires the parties to verify the economic effect of certain restrictions by considering how they would operate in the specific product market involved. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation principally proposes that businesses with small market shares are given more choice to establish their agreements and will not require undertaking an antitrust review of their dealings. Businesses with large market shares might need to spend time and resources to assessing their agreements from an antitrust perspective. 3. The Hard-Core Restrictions The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements that have certain anti-competitive objects. The Regulation lists a number of hard-core restrictions that, if included in the agreement, prevent the safe harbour from applying and cause the exclusion of the whole agreement from the benefit of the Block Exemption even if the market share of the supplier or buyer is below 30%. There are hard-core restrictions which apply to agreements between competitors, and agreements between non competitors. If one hard-core restriction is present in the agreement, the agreement will lose the benefit of the block exemption so Article 81(1) EC may apply. This can result in the unenforceability of the entire agreement and may even lead to fines and it is important that a severability or invalidity clause is included in the agreement where appropriate. Hard-core restrictions are considered to be so serious that they are almost always prohibited. In Javico International and Javico AG v Yves Saint Laurent Parfumes SA it was considered that hard-core restrictions do not infringe Article 81(1) except if they might have considerable effect on trade between Member States. There are five hard-core restrictions which, if there are contained in a vertical agreement, they have the consequence of taking the whole agreement outside the scope of the Regulation. 3.1. Resale Price Maintenance The first hard-core restriction concerns resale price maintenance. Article 4(a) states that the benefit of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements that fix prices and have the object of restricting a buyer’s ability to determine its sale price. A supplier is not allowed to fix or minimum the sale price at which distributors can resell his products. The restriction on the buyer’s power to establish his sale price is a hard-core restriction. The Commission in Yamaha considered that an obligation of a purchaser to resell at a particular price is ‘an obvious restriction of competition that is prohibited by Article 81(1)’. However, Paragraph 47 of the Guidelines states that ‘the provision of a list of price recommendations by the supplier to the buyer is not considered in itself as leading to resale price maintenance’ if they do not amount to a fixed or a minimum sale price. In Pronuptia de Paris v Pronuptia de Paris Irmgard Schillgalis, the Court held that the recommendation of prices would not infringe Article 81(1). In genuine agency agreements, where the principal bears all or almost all the financial and commercial risks related to the transactions concluded on his account by the agent, Article 81(1) would generally not be applicable. In Vlaamse Reisbureaus an agreement between travel agents and tour operators indented to oblige the travel agents to examine the prices and tariffs set by the Tour operators and the agents were banned from sharing commissions with or granting refunds to their customers. The Court held that the Belgium system infringed Article 81(1). From an economic point of view, it can be said that there is no certain analysis nowadays as to how to treat with resale price maintenance. Resale price maintenance can be pro-competitive or anti-competitive. Nevertheless, even when applying an effect based approach, it is obvious that in many cases competition will be delayed and that cases when resale price maintenance is efficient are actually quite rare. 3.1.2. Anti-Competitive and Pro-Competitive Effects in Resale Price Maintenance Resale price maintenance is a complex issue and may be harmful in some circumstances. There are two major anti-competitive effects in relation to resale price maintenance. These are the elimination of intra-brand price competition which has as a direct effect the price increase, and the resulting risk of a reduction in inter-brand competition which gains from increased price transparency, thus make easiest price collusion between manufacturers or distributors at a horizontal level. Other anti-competitive effects of the resale price maintenance, according to Luc Peeperkorn, are the loss of pressure on the seller’s scope and the loss of dynamism and innovation from in particular discounters. However, the doubts about the efficiency of and the likelihood that resale price maintenance leads to positive aspects. Economic theory has shown that this practice might have a number of efficiency benefits. For instance, price fixing may prevent ‘free riding’ by retail price discounters on the pre-sales services and/or reputation of full price dealers while it is obvious that intra-brand price competition will be reduced by imposing a fixed or minimum price. This can be reasonable, for example, where a distribution outlet offers first-class services on which customers then rely to buy at a cheaper discounter which does not provide these services and thus is able to charge lower prices. Free riding arises when one business benefits from the performance of another with no paying for it. A minimum price would remove the pricing advantage from the discounter and change intra-brand price competition with competition on services. Minimum resale price maintenance can thus occasionally be economically and commercially reasonable if certain conditions are fulfilled. One could argue that the ‘free riding’ problem could be solved by using other block exempted restrains achieving the same result. Some inefficiencies and externalities caused by the ‘free riding’ problem might be solved by exclusivity clauses, or selective distribution but this restraint may not be an ideal substitute in all conditions for resale price maintenance and it is then questionable that resale price maintenance should be per se prohibited in all cases. Also, resale price fixing can be useful to entrant manufacturers as it might assist them to position their products and thus retailers would have the incentives to invest in making the entrant’s products better known to consumers. Resale price maintenance has created worries in Commission because is being stand on national limits with different costs in different member states. According to Professor Boscheck, taking into account that the economic conditions to consider such restrains ‘are still either too crude or too costly to apply to allow for efficient rules and structured rule of reason’, it is difficult to argue that fixed or minimum prices should not be part of the hard-core list. On the other hand, it appears that such clauses are not considered as if an exemption were inconceivable in any case. There are reasonable arguments that such restrains, considered under an effects-based approach, can rarely be deemed as pro-competitive. It is still uncertain whether free riding by resale price maintenance to rationalize the exclusion of price competition between dealers or retailers. There are methods, for instance promotional allowances or service requirements, which can avoid ‘free riding’ without the anticompetitive side effect of reducing price competition between dealers and retailers. 3.2. Territorial and Customer Restrictions Article 4(b) states that restricting sales by the buyer into specified territories or to specified customers is a hard-core restriction. Distributors must remain free to decide where and to whom they sell. Paragraph 49 of the Guidelines recognizes two restrictions on buyers that would not be considered as hard-core under 4(b): a prohibition on resale except to certain and users for which there is an ‘objective justification related to the product’, and an obligation on the reseller relating to the display of the supplier’s brand names. There are exceptions to 4(b), such as restriction ‘of active sales into the exclusive territory or to an exclusive customer group reserved by the supplier or allocated by the supplier to another buyer’. The Commission in Souris-Topps held that Topps’s distribution agreements for its Pokemon Stickers and Cards failed to benefit from the Block exemption as they violated Article 4(b). The Paragraph 51 of the Guidelines deals with the Internet. It states that ‘A restriction on the use of the Internet by distributors could only be compatible with the Block Exemption Regulation to the extent that promotion on the Internet or sales over the Internet would lead to active selling into other distributors’ exclusive territories or customer groups’. The Commission in Yves Saint Laurent case held that a prohibition on internet publicity and sale usually constitutes a hard-core restriction. The Commission is awry of deterring the growth of e-commerce, and has confirmed that the use of the internet is not considered a form of active sales as it is a reasonable way of reaching customers. Provisions that restrict the territory into which, or the customers to whom, the buyer might sell the contract goods or services are illegal. There are four exceptions to that rule: (1) The restriction of active sales into the exclusive territory or to an exclusive customer group reserved to the supplier or allocated by the supplier to another buyer, where such a restriction does not limit sales by the customers of the buyer, (2) Restrictions of sales to end-users by a buyer operating at the wholesale level of trade, unless it relates to a selective distribution system. This Principle was established by the Commission in Villeroy Boch, (3) the restriction of sales to unauthorised distributors by the members of a selective distribution system, and (4) the restriction of the buyers ability to sell components, supplied for the purposes of incorporation, to customers who would use them to manufacture the same type of goods as those produced by the supplier. A restriction on active sales might not restrict sales by the consumers of the buyer. Thus, a seller can not prohibit his consumers to sell his goods or services on-line without an objective reason and he also can not reserve such sales to himself and/or advertising over the internet. The Vertical Guidelines contain definitions of the terms ‘active sales’ and ‘passive sales’. ‘Active sales’ are defined in paragraph 50 of the Guidelines and it means actively approaching individual customers inside another distributor’s exclusive territory or exclusive consumer group while ‘passive sales’ means responding to unsolicit Economic Globalisation and Competition Economic Globalisation and Competition 1. Introduction Competition is a vital mechanism of the market economy and is an efficient means of guaranteeing consumers a level of quality in terms of the value and price of products and services. Economic globalization has increased volatile growth within international trade and as a result in subject of competition law. Article 81(1) of the EC Treaty ‘prohibits agreements between undertakings; decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between Member States and which prevent restrict or distort competition’. These agreements shall be void according to 81(2). However, the agreements which satisfy the conditions set out in article 81(3) EC shall not be prohibited, no prior decision to that effect being required. 1.1. Anti-Competitive Agreements Article 81 of the EC Treaty, prohibiting anti-competitive agreements, must be considered in relation to all commercial agreements with a probable EU cross-border impact. The Horizontal and the Vertical agreements are the agreements, which are relevant for the purposes of the application of the competition rules. Horizontal agreements are those between undertakings operating at the same level of production or marketing, while vertical agreements are those completed between undertakings operating at different economic levels. Under EC Competition Law, restrains included in vertical agreements are regarded as not as much damaging than those included in horizontal agreements. In Consten and Grundig v Commission the European Court of Justice considered that Article 81(1) EC applies not only to horizontal agreements but also to vertical agreements. The later decisional practice of the Commission on the treatment of vertical arrangements under Art 81(1) and 81(3) EC, and the case law of the Community Courts, have been one of the most controversial and severely criticized aspects of Community competition policy. These agreements are very important for the functioning of the economy. Commercial agreements may be exempted from the application of article 81(1) under article 81(3). 1.2. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation However, there is a ‘safe harbour’ for undertakings: the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation 2790/1999. Safe harbours exist for certain agreements including restrictions providing conditions are met so that agreements falling within the terms of the Regulation are exempt from the application of Article 81(1) EC guaranteeing the enforceability of the agreement and granting protection from antitrust prosecution. Thus, if undertakings wish to be certain that their vertical agreements are in line with EC competition law, they should agree on clauses within the scope of the Regulation. Outside this safe harbour, the European Commission’s Notice Guidelines on Vertical Restraints are a helpful guide for the assessment under Art 81(3) EC and are explaining the application of Regulation 2790/1999 and the Commission’s approach to vertical restraints. The Guidelines on Vertical Restraints sets out the principles for the assessment of vertical agreements under Article 81, including the application of the Regulation to vertical agreements. Article 2(1) of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation gives the definition of vertical agreements and states that Article 81(1) shall not apply to ‘agreements or concerted practices entered into between two or more undertakings each of which operates, for the purposes of the agreement, at a different level of the production or distribution chain, and relating to the conditions under which the parties may purchase, sell or resell certain goods or services’. The Commission adopted the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation on 1999 and the new Block Exemption Regulation is expected in 2010. Modifications might remain quite limited and might concern, especially, the presentation of more certain rules on e-commerce, on internet sales and the treatment of resale price maintenance. 1.3. Scope of Application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation The objective of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is to exempt certain categories of vertical agreements that, under certain conditions, may improve economic efficiency within a production or distribution chain and is directed at vertical agreements for the purchase or sale of goods or services. The Regulation covers various vertical agreements and applies to any type of agreement entered into companies, which do not operate at the same level of the production or distribution chain. Agreements are covered by the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation on franchising, selective distribution, exclusive dealing, exclusive purchasing, exclusive supply, and non-genuine agency agreements within the scope of Article 81. An agency agreement falls outside article 81(1) where the agent bears no or only insignificant risks in relation to either of these matters. Article 81(1) does not apply to certain agreements or concerted practices entered into between two or more undertakings. The concept of an undertaking was discussed in Hofner and Elser v Matrocton. It was stated that: â€Å"The concept of an undertaking encompasses every entity engaged in economic activity regardless of the legal status of the entity and the way it is financed†. The definition of competing undertakings in Article 1(b) includes actual or potential suppliers in the same product market. The exclusion may be quite wide and uncertain in application. In Tetra Pack I it was considered that a contract within the terms of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation enjoys exemption from Article 81(1), but not from article 82 unless the Commission withdraws the exemption for the future, with a decision. The Regulation does not apply, however, to vertical agreements to rent and lease agreements, as no sale takes place and to agreements which have as their primary object the licensing of intellectual property rights, nor automobile distribution agreements, nor agreements between competitors, except if they are ancillary to a vertical agreement and facilitate the purchase, sale or resale of the contract goods or services by the buyer and vertical agreements whose subject matter falls within the scope of another block exemption regulation. Also, the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not cover any restrictions or obligations that do not relate to the conditions of purchase, sale and resale. The Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements with a subject matter that falls within the scope of any other Block Exemption Regulation. The application of the Regulation, in certain circumstances, can be withdrawn by a decision of the European Commission, or the national competition authorities. Also, the European Commission can enact a regulation declaring the Regulation usually inapplicable to certain agreements including specific restraints. 1.4. Agreements between Competitors The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not cover vertical agreements that are concluded on a reciprocal basis between competitors. This exclusion may be very broad because it includes both actual and potential competitors, with the latter being defined as companies that would be able and likely to enter the market within one year. Vertical agreements between competitors are covered by the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation if the agreement is non-reciprocal and the buyer has a turnover not exceeding â‚ ¬100 million or the buyer is not a manufacturer of competing goods but only a competitor of the supplier at the distribution level. Also, are covered and where the supplier is a provider of services operating at several levels of trade, while the buyer does not provide competing services at the level of trade where it purchases the contract services. 1.5. Summary Article 81(1) EC prohibits agreements which have anti-competitive effects. By enacting the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation, the Commission has establish ‘safe harbors’ for undertakings, that outline conditions regarding when vertical agreements and concerted practices that have an anti-competitive purpose or results and would be prohibited under article 81(1) might be acceptable because they satisfy the criteria of article 81(3). When an agreement fulfills the conditions set out in the Regulation, the agreement is valid and enforceable. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is a measure under European Union law that grants an exemption from the application of Article 81. Agreements that meet the conditions set out in the Regulation are considered either not to adversely affect competition on the relevant European market(s) or only to affect competition to a limited degree. It is now time to examine if the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation has worked and whether the Regulation and the vertical Guidelines are need any modification, and, if so, what have to be done. PART I Requirements of the Application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation contains certain requirements that have to be satisfied before, for the vertical agreement is able to benefit from the Regulation. The market share of the supplier must not exceed 30% (Article 3). Also the agreement must not contain any of the hard-core restrictions (Article 4). Finally, the Regulation contains conditions relating to three certain restrictions (Article 5). 2. The Market Share Cap The Market Share threshold is probably one of the most important provisions of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. In Article 3(1) is stated that ‘the market share held by the supplier does not exceed 30% of the relevant market on which it sells the contract goods or services’. Also, Article 3(2) states that ‘in the case of vertical agreements containing exclusive supply obligations, the exemption provided for in Article 2 shall apply on condition that the market share held by the buyer does not exceed 30% of the relevant market on which it purchases the contract goods or services’. In Telenor/Canal+/Canal Digital the 30% rule prevented the application of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. The market share threshold is aimed to reduce regulatory burdens from those businesses that, according to Bishop and Ridyard, ‘could not behave anti-competitively even if they tried’. The introducing of a market share cap was one the most hotly contested aspects of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation. Businesses and its lawyers argued that such a rule would be unworkable, since it is so difficult to establish market shares with any degree of precision, particularly in rapidly developing markets. However, the Commission insisted that there was no better means of ensuring that the benefit of the Block Exemption, did not go to firms with too much market power, and the market share cap stayed, albeit in the form of a single threshold of 30%, rather that two of 20% and of 40% which had been proposed in an earlier draft. If the market share of the parties exceeds the 10% threshold described in the De Minimis Notice, Article 81(1) EC will normally not apply to the agreement if the product is new or if the existing product is sold for the first time on a different geographic market. One factor which may have assisted the Commission in prevailing was the fact that while discussions on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation were going on, it published its white paper on procedural modernization in the application of articles 81 and 82 EC, which proposed the abolition of the notification system altogether. This may have led some to feel less strongly about the content of the Regulation. 2.1. Calculating the Market Share In order to calculate the market share there must be identified the manufactured goods and geographic markets. Regarding market definition, the general rules apply. On the relevant market, the supplier calculates its market share by comparing its turnover achieved on that market with the total value of sales on that market. However, the benefit of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation will, subject to certain conditions, not always be lost if the market share exceeds the 30% threshold. In Rewe/Meinl the European Commission considered that a supplier is in a situation of â€Å"economic dependence† when the buyer accounts for over a 22% market share and thus buyer power might distort competition. John De Gregorio, European counsel for consumer goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corporation, has stated: ‘With the introduction of market share thresholds to the block exemption analysis, it’s more important than ever for in-house counsel to know how the Commission and European courts may define the â€Å"relevant market† for the goods that your company manufactures and sells, and to be comfortable with the definition your company adopts’. 2.2. The De Minimis Doctrine and Agreements of Minor Importance In addition to the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation and the Guidelines the Commission has issued a series of notices, called ‘Notices on agreements of minor importance’ which give guidance on the agreements which will escape Article 81(1), because the market share of each or both of the parties to the agreement is too small. The European Commission’s de minimis Notice states that no Article 81 subjects are raised by an agreement between undertakings where in vertical agreements the market share of each party to the agreement does not exceed 15% of the relevant market, or 5% for vertical agreements where access to the relevant market is foreclosed by the increasing effect of parallel networks of vertical agreements by several companies. The ‘de minimis’ notice sets the relevant threshold at 5% for horizontal agreements. Commercial agreements between parties where market shares exceed these thresholds might however not have a considerable effect on competition or might benefit from exemption. Nevertheless, the presumption in the de minimis Notice will not apply if the commercial agreement contains hardcore restrictions. In Franz Volk v Establissments Vervaecke SPRL the 0.6% of market share in washing machines considered insignificant. In general, agreements taken between Small and Medium size Enterprisers are ‘de minimis’. Paragraph 3 of the Notice recognizes that agreements between small and medium-sized undertakings are rarely capable of appreciably affecting trade between Member States. Finally, Article 8 provides that the Commission can withdraw the benefit of Block Exemption where ‘50 % of a relevant market, contain specific restraints relating to that market. This Regulation shall not become applicable earlier than six months following its adoption’. 2.3. Market Power The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation states that, with some certain exceptions, all vertical restrains are acceptable unless they are coupled to significant market power. Market share thresholds are criticized to be uncertain because they need a definition of the market which is the reason why the idea of market share thresholds has been discarded in most systems. Also, the amount of market power can be considered by reference to market share. Scherer and Ross state that economic analysis shows that in most cases the welfare-reducing effects of vertical restrains depend on the degree of market power the involved firms have. If market shares are in general indicative of potential market power, they can never be considered without considering some other factors to achieve a reasonable assessment of market power for instance the barriers to entry and prospective competition and the characteristics of the oligopolistic dealings between businesses. The Commission in some of its judgments show that market shares do not equal market power. For example, in Alcatel-Telectra the Commission cleared a merger which gave the parties market shares of 83%. Also, in Rhone-Poulenc/SNIA the high degree of concentration was ought to weighed by the existence of rapid technology development. The most obvious issue, according to Professor Denis Waelbroeck, is to consider whether the system should not allow all vertical agreements which do not include hardcore restrictions, separately of the market share of the parties involved, and only apply a control under Article 82 EC in cases of dominance. That would remove the burden above the threshold for businesses to achieve a complex evaluation of their agreements under Article 81(1) and Article 81(3) EC and it will provide more legal certainty in this subject. In addition, the economic assessment required by the Guidelines on Vertical Restrains and the Guidelines on the application of Article 81(3) of the Treaty is challenging, and it is doubtful that many judges and parties will have the income or abilities to undertake it sufficiently, thus raising the danger of extensive, expensive and uncertain litigation. 2.4. Arguments about the Threshold The use of market shares as a key element of the Regulation’s treatment has been criticised as being possible to lead to uncertainty and unpredictability given the difficulties in defining the relevant market and market share. It may be argued that the threshold is too low or that it is improperly cast. Those who argue that the threshold is too low point out that the anti-competitive risks can arise only when there is a dominant firm. A non-dominant firm cannot increase rivals costs and cannot make damage to the consumers as they still benefit from inter-brand competition. Those who argue that the threshold is improperly cast would agree with the above criticism but bear in mind that anti-competitive effects can manifest themselves when there is the risk of oligopolistic interdependence. Bishop. and Ridyard state that an assessment of the market’s concentration would be more useful than the assessment of one players market share. Some argue that given the uncertainties over market definition, a market share threshold is not a substitute for a detailed analysis of whether the consumers suffer consequently of a particular practice but this might damage the effectiveness of the existing system which creates a safe harbour so that analytical incomes are allocated to those cases where anticompetitive effects are most possible to occur. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation creation of a market share threshold which the Regulation does not apply, limits manufacturing businesses that manufacture extremely innovative goods and want to sell them before other businesses have the chance to promote competitive goods into the market. In this situation, the manufacturing businesses with the extremely innovative goods might have a very high market share in a particular industry within a specific geographic area as no competing goods exist. However, as its market share is more than 30%, the manufacturing business is unable to take benefit from the Regulation and would be banned from effectively distributing and selling its manufactured goods in the market. 2.5. Removing the Threshold The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation is unduly restrictive by setting the threshold at 30%. Many agreements thus escape the safe harbour though they are completely harmless from a competition law perspective. By removing the thresholds the sellers using private resellers may be penalised not as much as vertically integrate businesses. Also, abolishing the threshold would give more stability to the system because not all restrictions of competition under 81 are an abuse under 82. On the other hand, if the system is seen as too essential one may think a less radical change to the Regulation consisting of a differentiated approach identifying those clauses which can be problematic above 30% although the parties are not dominant. Those clauses which are always straightforward, even in cases of dominance and which thus essentially deserve an exemption and should not to be matter to any market share threshold and also those clauses which should never advantage from a group exemption even they are below 30%. 2.6. Summary The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation can simplify issues but also can cause difficulties. It makes issues simple as it offers the parties more flexibility in establishing their agreements and if a business’s market share is less than the related market share threshold the agreement will fall outside the scope of the competition rules or be qualified for exemption provided that it does not include hardcore restrictions. The Regulation can also cause difficulties as the parties’ market share must be verified in every case and this can be very hard in situations, for instance as those concerning new markets. Where the market share threshold is exceeded, issues become more difficult as the Regulation requires a complete evaluation of the agreement to define whether it would restrict competition under Article 81(1) and, if so, whether it would meet the requirements for an exemption under Article 81(3). This requires the parties to verify the economic effect of certain restrictions by considering how they would operate in the specific product market involved. The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation principally proposes that businesses with small market shares are given more choice to establish their agreements and will not require undertaking an antitrust review of their dealings. Businesses with large market shares might need to spend time and resources to assessing their agreements from an antitrust perspective. 3. The Hard-Core Restrictions The Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements that have certain anti-competitive objects. The Regulation lists a number of hard-core restrictions that, if included in the agreement, prevent the safe harbour from applying and cause the exclusion of the whole agreement from the benefit of the Block Exemption even if the market share of the supplier or buyer is below 30%. There are hard-core restrictions which apply to agreements between competitors, and agreements between non competitors. If one hard-core restriction is present in the agreement, the agreement will lose the benefit of the block exemption so Article 81(1) EC may apply. This can result in the unenforceability of the entire agreement and may even lead to fines and it is important that a severability or invalidity clause is included in the agreement where appropriate. Hard-core restrictions are considered to be so serious that they are almost always prohibited. In Javico International and Javico AG v Yves Saint Laurent Parfumes SA it was considered that hard-core restrictions do not infringe Article 81(1) except if they might have considerable effect on trade between Member States. There are five hard-core restrictions which, if there are contained in a vertical agreement, they have the consequence of taking the whole agreement outside the scope of the Regulation. 3.1. Resale Price Maintenance The first hard-core restriction concerns resale price maintenance. Article 4(a) states that the benefit of the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation does not apply to vertical agreements that fix prices and have the object of restricting a buyer’s ability to determine its sale price. A supplier is not allowed to fix or minimum the sale price at which distributors can resell his products. The restriction on the buyer’s power to establish his sale price is a hard-core restriction. The Commission in Yamaha considered that an obligation of a purchaser to resell at a particular price is ‘an obvious restriction of competition that is prohibited by Article 81(1)’. However, Paragraph 47 of the Guidelines states that ‘the provision of a list of price recommendations by the supplier to the buyer is not considered in itself as leading to resale price maintenance’ if they do not amount to a fixed or a minimum sale price. In Pronuptia de Paris v Pronuptia de Paris Irmgard Schillgalis, the Court held that the recommendation of prices would not infringe Article 81(1). In genuine agency agreements, where the principal bears all or almost all the financial and commercial risks related to the transactions concluded on his account by the agent, Article 81(1) would generally not be applicable. In Vlaamse Reisbureaus an agreement between travel agents and tour operators indented to oblige the travel agents to examine the prices and tariffs set by the Tour operators and the agents were banned from sharing commissions with or granting refunds to their customers. The Court held that the Belgium system infringed Article 81(1). From an economic point of view, it can be said that there is no certain analysis nowadays as to how to treat with resale price maintenance. Resale price maintenance can be pro-competitive or anti-competitive. Nevertheless, even when applying an effect based approach, it is obvious that in many cases competition will be delayed and that cases when resale price maintenance is efficient are actually quite rare. 3.1.2. Anti-Competitive and Pro-Competitive Effects in Resale Price Maintenance Resale price maintenance is a complex issue and may be harmful in some circumstances. There are two major anti-competitive effects in relation to resale price maintenance. These are the elimination of intra-brand price competition which has as a direct effect the price increase, and the resulting risk of a reduction in inter-brand competition which gains from increased price transparency, thus make easiest price collusion between manufacturers or distributors at a horizontal level. Other anti-competitive effects of the resale price maintenance, according to Luc Peeperkorn, are the loss of pressure on the seller’s scope and the loss of dynamism and innovation from in particular discounters. However, the doubts about the efficiency of and the likelihood that resale price maintenance leads to positive aspects. Economic theory has shown that this practice might have a number of efficiency benefits. For instance, price fixing may prevent ‘free riding’ by retail price discounters on the pre-sales services and/or reputation of full price dealers while it is obvious that intra-brand price competition will be reduced by imposing a fixed or minimum price. This can be reasonable, for example, where a distribution outlet offers first-class services on which customers then rely to buy at a cheaper discounter which does not provide these services and thus is able to charge lower prices. Free riding arises when one business benefits from the performance of another with no paying for it. A minimum price would remove the pricing advantage from the discounter and change intra-brand price competition with competition on services. Minimum resale price maintenance can thus occasionally be economically and commercially reasonable if certain conditions are fulfilled. One could argue that the ‘free riding’ problem could be solved by using other block exempted restrains achieving the same result. Some inefficiencies and externalities caused by the ‘free riding’ problem might be solved by exclusivity clauses, or selective distribution but this restraint may not be an ideal substitute in all conditions for resale price maintenance and it is then questionable that resale price maintenance should be per se prohibited in all cases. Also, resale price fixing can be useful to entrant manufacturers as it might assist them to position their products and thus retailers would have the incentives to invest in making the entrant’s products better known to consumers. Resale price maintenance has created worries in Commission because is being stand on national limits with different costs in different member states. According to Professor Boscheck, taking into account that the economic conditions to consider such restrains ‘are still either too crude or too costly to apply to allow for efficient rules and structured rule of reason’, it is difficult to argue that fixed or minimum prices should not be part of the hard-core list. On the other hand, it appears that such clauses are not considered as if an exemption were inconceivable in any case. There are reasonable arguments that such restrains, considered under an effects-based approach, can rarely be deemed as pro-competitive. It is still uncertain whether free riding by resale price maintenance to rationalize the exclusion of price competition between dealers or retailers. There are methods, for instance promotional allowances or service requirements, which can avoid ‘free riding’ without the anticompetitive side effect of reducing price competition between dealers and retailers. 3.2. Territorial and Customer Restrictions Article 4(b) states that restricting sales by the buyer into specified territories or to specified customers is a hard-core restriction. Distributors must remain free to decide where and to whom they sell. Paragraph 49 of the Guidelines recognizes two restrictions on buyers that would not be considered as hard-core under 4(b): a prohibition on resale except to certain and users for which there is an ‘objective justification related to the product’, and an obligation on the reseller relating to the display of the supplier’s brand names. There are exceptions to 4(b), such as restriction ‘of active sales into the exclusive territory or to an exclusive customer group reserved by the supplier or allocated by the supplier to another buyer’. The Commission in Souris-Topps held that Topps’s distribution agreements for its Pokemon Stickers and Cards failed to benefit from the Block exemption as they violated Article 4(b). The Paragraph 51 of the Guidelines deals with the Internet. It states that ‘A restriction on the use of the Internet by distributors could only be compatible with the Block Exemption Regulation to the extent that promotion on the Internet or sales over the Internet would lead to active selling into other distributors’ exclusive territories or customer groups’. The Commission in Yves Saint Laurent case held that a prohibition on internet publicity and sale usually constitutes a hard-core restriction. The Commission is awry of deterring the growth of e-commerce, and has confirmed that the use of the internet is not considered a form of active sales as it is a reasonable way of reaching customers. Provisions that restrict the territory into which, or the customers to whom, the buyer might sell the contract goods or services are illegal. There are four exceptions to that rule: (1) The restriction of active sales into the exclusive territory or to an exclusive customer group reserved to the supplier or allocated by the supplier to another buyer, where such a restriction does not limit sales by the customers of the buyer, (2) Restrictions of sales to end-users by a buyer operating at the wholesale level of trade, unless it relates to a selective distribution system. This Principle was established by the Commission in Villeroy Boch, (3) the restriction of sales to unauthorised distributors by the members of a selective distribution system, and (4) the restriction of the buyers ability to sell components, supplied for the purposes of incorporation, to customers who would use them to manufacture the same type of goods as those produced by the supplier. A restriction on active sales might not restrict sales by the consumers of the buyer. Thus, a seller can not prohibit his consumers to sell his goods or services on-line without an objective reason and he also can not reserve such sales to himself and/or advertising over the internet. The Vertical Guidelines contain definitions of the terms ‘active sales’ and ‘passive sales’. ‘Active sales’ are defined in paragraph 50 of the Guidelines and it means actively approaching individual customers inside another distributor’s exclusive territory or exclusive consumer group while ‘passive sales’ means responding to unsolicit