Exclusive distribution agreements and competition law : an analysis
Notice bibliographique
Résumé
A manufacturer or supplier that wishes to distribute its product and/or to expand its selling operations in its own or a foreign country must be concerned with a large body of specific laws and regulations, among others competition law. This thesis focuses on the Canadian Competition Act and its effect on such business relationships, specifically distribution agreements. In the first chapter I briefly define the distribution agreement, discuss its main legal implications, and deal with exclusivity provisions usually included in such agreements. With respect to the distribution of goods and in particular to an exclusive distribution agreement, the provisions of the Competition Act dealing with reviewable matters and resale price maintenance are the most important ones. The second chapter contains an analysis of these provisions in general and in the context of the exclusive distribution agreement in particular. In the third chapter I discuss the impact of these provisions on distribution agreements and the question of whether they are able to serve the main purpose of the Competition Act. In doing so, I concentrate on two major issues: What is the impact of Canada's Competition Act on an exclusive distribution agreement, and why does the Act treat resale price maintenance in a different way than it treats non-price vertical restraints? After having analyzed the most important provisions regarding distribution agreements, I conclude that the impact of competition law on the process of product distribution, especially with respect to exclusive distribution agreements, is not as significant as it may seem. This is true at least with respect to reviewable practices. Many of the practices a manufacturer or supplier uses to distribute its products are common and not illegal per se. Moreover, the provisions with respect to reviewable matters do not present a significant barrier for a supplier who promotes and sells its product through a vertical distribution system. This is mainly due to the requirements of the different provisions which narrow the scope of their applications significantly. Only where a supplier has a strong position in the market and deals with a particular product which cannot be substituted easily, competition law might have a major impact. However, the situation is different for the practice of resale price maintenance. A per se offence, the resale price maintenance provision applies to any supplier regardless of its size or position in the market. For this reason and because of the fact that an attempt to influence prices upward is sufficient for a prohibition, this provision is of significant importance for distribution agreements. In consequence, I argue that these conclusions with respect to both reviewable matters and the practice of resale price maintenance do not collide with the objectives of competition policy that are predominant in Canada in the present day; they rather support this finding.
Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.
Comment cette classification a été obtenuedéplier
Prédiction machine sur la base complète
Imitation des enseignantsNi prévalence calibrée, ni vérité terrain. Validation humaine à venir. Le volet Gemma est une étiquette directe du modèle pour chaque travail de la base, lue sur la notice réduite au titre. Le volet Codex est un classifieur appris des 10 348 étiquettes directes de Codex et calibré sur les taux pondérés de l'échantillon; les champs sans appui suffisant ne portent aucun appel Codex. Le mode candidate est l'union des deux volets; le consensus est leur intersection. Ces sorties portent le statut machine_predicted_unvalidated et ne sont pas des étiquettes humaines.
Scores du classifieur distillé par catégorie (deux têtes)
| Catégorie | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Métarecherche | 0,004 | 0,010 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens strict) | 0,000 | 0,000 |
| Méta-épidémiologie (sens large) | 0,001 | 0,001 |
| Bibliométrie | 0,003 | 0,003 |
| Études des sciences et des technologies | 0,005 | 0,012 |
| Communication savante | 0,007 | 0,009 |
| Science ouverte | 0,002 | 0,005 |
| Intégrité de la recherche | 0,003 | 0,005 |
| Charge utile insuffisante (le modèle a refusé de juger) | 0,015 | 0,001 |
Scores machine (provisoires)
Les deux têtes enseignantes du modèle étudiant, lues sur ce travail. Un score ordonne la base pour la relecture; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie, et le statut de validation accompagne chaque rangée tel quel.
Scores de référence d'un modèle non mature (critères de maturité non atteints, 7 itérations). Un score ordonne; il n'affirme jamais une catégorie.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · tel quel depuis la passe de notation : score_only signifie que le nombre peut ordonner les travaux, et qu'aucune étiquette de catégorie n'en découleClassification
machine, non validéePrédiction automatique; un appel candidat d’une seule source (Gemma direct ou Codex distillé), pas un consensus.
Le détail, modèle par modèle et score par score, se trouve en fin de page sous « Comment cette classification a été obtenue ».