level playing field

The paper focuses on the issue of liberalisation of international civil aviation, examining how the law could accommodate a reform of the Chicago regime. It looks into the strengths and weaknesses of the most prominent legal options available to States to implement liberalisation, namely, amending the Chicago Convention, including market access in air transport in the GATS Annex on Air Transport Services, waiving the nationality clauses and concluding interregional air transport agreements. Via this process, the paper aspires to identify the optimal legal path to liberalisation. The analysis suggests that there is no single way to achieve liberalisation nor is there a shortcut. Instead, it appears that what catalyses liberalisation is the combined effect of the interplay between the various legal options. The paper concludes that, however accommodating the law might be, liberalisation occurs when economics and politics merge, an outcome which in international civil aviation appears to be a long way down the road, but certainly not out of sight.

This paper examines the economic regulation of international civil aviation with a view to debunking a number of myths surrounding it. The focus is on public international law understood in its classical construct. The economic regulation of international civil aviation came about in the aftermath of the two World Wars and was marked so deeply by the prevailing conditions at the time that it has manifested extreme resilience over the years. Liberalisation is still a question mark in international civil aviation. This paper attempts to shed some light on a number of issues that may obstruct liberalisation. What it finds is that the same old issues that were discussed in the 1940s and 1950s, when air transport law was in the making, keep coming back. It seems that economic regulation has failed to address the perennial questions of international civil aviation. The paper risks making the prediction that disruptive technology will do the trick.

This article examines the regulation of the air transport sector
from the perspective of competition law, focusing specifically on
European Union (EU)-U.S. air transport relations. Emphasis is
placed on the ongoing negotiations between Europe and the
United States for the creation of a transatlantic open aviation
area, where U.S. and European airlines will operate freely without restrictions on traffic rights, subject solely to common rules
agreed upon by the parties. In 2007, the first-ever EU-U.S. Air
Transport Agreement (ATA) was reached, followed in 2010 by a
second-stage agreement. All efforts are now concentrated on
the conclusion of the final agreement. Given that the transatlantic air transport market accounts for almost sixty percent of
world traffic, the conclusion of the final agreement will signal
the creation of the biggest liberalized airspace in the world.
The prospects and challenges thereof are expected to be major
and are examined from the perspective of the consumers, the
airline industry, and the law itself. The first part of the article is
a flight into the past, tracing the regulation of air transport from
the birth of civil aviation up until today. The second part is a
flight into the future, aspiring to foresee how smooth or turbulent the transition to the new regime is going to be. Given that
the successful application of the final agreement is dependent upon effective regulatory cooperation aimed ultimately at regulatory convergence, the analysis looks into the prospects and
challenges associated with regulatory convergence at both sector-specific and general competition law levels.

This article takes stock of the regulatory convergence between US antitrust law and EU competition law in the field of international air transport. The analysis draws a distinction between domestic aviation and international aviation and sets the boundaries of regulatory convergence in international air transportation. Through a comparative analysis of the decisional practice of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the European Commission, it identifies instances of regulatory convergence in: (i) the definition of the relevant market in international airline alliance cases, (ii) the remedies imposed to immunize international airline alliances, and (iii) the duration of the antitrust immunity. It further identifies an instance of legislative convergence in the area of fair competition in international air transport. The analysis addresses the future of regulatory convergence in the post-Covid 19 era and emphasizes the role of the competition authorities in safeguarding consumer welfare.

The EU-ASEAN Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) is the latest example of the EU's effort to set a "global benchmark" in the regulation of international air transport. The EU-ASEAN CATA is an exceptional ASA for its geographic coverage, liberalizing impact, and expanded substantive scope. As the first-ever bloc-to-bloc ATA with 27 EU member states and 10 ASEAN member states respectively and a combined population of 1.1 billion, the EU-ASEAN CATA will make a significant impact not only on stakeholders in the EU and ASEAN, but furthermore on the rest of the world. The article aims to thoroughly examine the landmark EU-ASEAN CATA from its evolutional path to its potential as a global benchmark.

The States’ perception of what constitutes fair competition in international air transport has evolved from a quid pro quo approach in the era
of airline regulation to a laissez-faire approach in the era of airline
de-regulation. However, no consensus has ever been reached as to, first,
what constitutes fair competition in an industry whose market access is
still contingent on bilateral air services agreements (ASAs), and, second,
what the pre-requisites of a level playing field are. The commercial
success of the Gulf airlines has obliged regulators and policymakers
around the world to revisit this issue and demand compliance with global
rules. The EU has responded by adopting Regulation (EU) 2019/712 on
safeguarding fair competition, as well as by championing the inclusion of
fair competition clauses in ASAs. The analysis examines the compatibility
of unilateral action under the Regulation with mutually negotiated
solutions under ASAs so as to assess the legitimacy and efficiency of the
EU strategy in the area of fair competition in international air transport.

Even though there exists an extensive Law and Economics literature on the topics of procedural law and harmonization of law, very little has been written on harmonization of procedural law as such. In this paper I first provide a brief overview of the economic approach to legal intervention, private enforcement and procedural law. Subsequently, I discuss the economics of harmonization of (substantive) private law. The traditional legal arguments in favor of harmonization (differences in legal rules between countries result in legal uncertainty and increased costs and therefore hinder cross-border trade, and harmonization would create a level playing field) turn out to be unconvincing. The economic analysis of law provides several arguments against harmonization (regulatory competition enables satisfying a larger number of preferences, it enables learning effects, (centralized) legislators suffer from limited information and the possible influence of interest groups should be taken into account) and in favor of it (the need to internalize interstate externalities, the desire to avoid a race to the bottom, decreasing transaction costs and profiting from economies of scale). These arguments have to be weighed in order to reach a conclusion on the desirability of harmonization Such a weighing shows that there is, at best, a limited scope for harmonization of procedural law (and then only as an additional option). Harmonization would remove the possible learning effects and does not allow satisfying a larger number of preferences. The possible arguments in favor of harmonization of procedural law seem week, especially now procedural law is closely connected to the underlying substantive law. The only potentially strong argument is the reduction of transaction costs. It is ultimately an empirical matter if this argument outweighs the arguments against harmonization. The 2008 Oxford Civil Justice Survey in my view suggests that this is not the case.

We model the interaction between two economies where banks exhibit both adverse selection and moral hazard and bank regulators try to resolve these problems. We nd that liberalising bank capital ows between economies reduces total welfare by reducing the average size and ef ciency of the banking sector. This effect can be countered by a adopting a "level playing eld" forcing international harmonisation of capital requirements and deposit rates across economies. Such a policy is good for weaker regulators whereas a laissez-faire policy under which each country chooses its own capital requirement is better for the higher quality regulator. We nd that imposing a level playing eld among countries is globally optimal provided regulators' abilities are not too different, and comment on how shocks will be transmitted differently across the two policy regimes. We extend the model to allow for multinational banks, licensed by both regulators, showing that the same considerations arise in this context. Allowing multinationals improves welfare when bank capital can ow across borders, despite the negative impact on local banks.

The field of business and human rights has attracted widespread attention during the last decades in academia and practice. Still, there has been relatively little attention to it by South East European states.
Governments of the region lack a coherent engagement with the implications of corporate activities on human rights and the rule of law. This is demonstrated by the absence of National Action Plans on Business
and Human Rights and specific regulations or policies on corporate accountability. At the same time, most countries in the region, ravaged by recent conflict and deep financial crises, compete to attract investment
and trade, resulting in adopting lax laws in terms of social issues, environment, and labour. This paper aims to provide the first overview of developments and challenges related to business and human rights in Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey.

Recent takeovers -and attempted takeovers -of strategic resource companies have renewed concerns that some of Canada's prized corporate players are falling into foreign hands. However, data shows that Canada has not been a significant attractor of multinational investment, lagging behind a number of developed and developing nations. Indeed, since the mid-1990s, Canada has been a net exporter of capital in world markets, as foreign direct investment by Canadian companies far outpaced the inflow of foreign capital. Rather than being hollowed out, we are hollowing out other countries. As a general policy, Canada should reduce barriers to foreign direct investment and welcome our growing role in international markets. As many studies have shown, foreign direct investment brings significant net benefits to the Canadian economy, including knowledge transfers, new management, better wages and productivity. Only in limited circumstances, such as in the case of protecting Canada's national security, should Canada block foreign takeovers of Canadian companies. In the interest of neutrality and minimizing economic distortions, takeovers of Canadian companies by foreign sovereign wealth funds or state-owned enterprises should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. When state-owned enterprises have similar commercial objectives and operate on a level-playing field without financial support by state owners, they could also provide net benefits to the Canadian economy. One important area that requires further consideration is with respect to the tax-exempt status of sovereign wealth funds and state-owned companies. Canadian tax treaties should be reviewed to ensure that Canadian withholding taxes maintain an even playing field among private and state-owned businesses operating in Canada.

This paper critiques the Liberal take that research cannot be exploitative if participants volunteer to undergo it. I argue that voluntary consent is not enough to guarantee non-exploitation when the status quo is unfair to begin with. Given the inequalities that exist between HICs and LMICs, both parties are not bargaining from a level playing field. Medical research policy should employ a framework that accounts for these structural and transactional inequalities between LMICs and HICs. This paper will discuss a one price system as a viable solution. It would be effective in levelling the playing field as demand for research is highly inelastic.

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

This paper focusses on the interaction between regulation and competition in a simple industrial organization model. We analyze how regulation affects the pro®tability of ®nancial institutions. We ®nd that information asymmetries impose a heavy regulatory burden on the higher-quality banks, highlighting the importance of ®netuning regulation. Our other main results point at the importance of a level playing ®eld.

State aid for airlines around the world has been a common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the air transport was one of the sectors most heavily affected. This study analyzes 27 cases of state aid to EU airlines between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2021 with a total amount of €31 billion. The information was obtained from the area of competition of the European Commission (EC), which is the entity responsible for final approval. Results indicate that the largest EU economies (Germany and France), as well as some Northern European countries, are supporting national airlines more extensively. Airlines with a weaker financial performance before the pandemic were more likely to receive state aid. Government involvement in the airline industry during the recent health crisis will have an important influence on the level playing field (LPF) for airlines. It is still unclear how this will evolve in the future, but it seems that some airlines now resemble the public flag companies of the past.

The article presents legal solutions of the European Union (EU) and Member States (MS) with respect to the digitalisation of company law. We analyse and evaluate the EU's efforts to overcome the backlog of legislation concerning technological development, with legal solutions in the field of the electronic formation and registration of companies and in shareholders' communication with company board members. The analysis shows that company law in the EU is lagging behind technological development. Despite ongoing dynamic efforts to modernise it on the EU level, the MS reveal differences in their speed of implementing the EU's directives. The case of Slovenia shows that while digital tools are in wide use for ensuring transparent data disclosure and publication, along with the realisation of basic corporate governance functions, big differences remain between the minority of companies traded on the regulated market and the majority of companies for which such regulation is deficient.

The article presents legal solutions of the European Union (EU) and Member States (MS) with respect to the digitalisation of company law. We analyse and evaluate the EU’s efforts to overcome the backlog of legislation concerning technological development, with legal solutions in the field of the electronic formation and registration of companies and in shareholders’ communication with company board members. The analysis shows that company law in the EU is lagging behind technological development. Despite ongoing dynamic efforts to modernise it on the EU level, the MS reveal differences in their speed of implementing the EU’s directives. The case of Slovenia shows that while digital tools are in wide use for ensuring transparent data disclosure and publication, along with the realisation of basic corporate governance functions, big differences remain between the minority of companies traded on the regulated market and the majority of companies for which such regulation is deficient. ...

This paper, based on a published report by the International Transport Forum at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (ITF), examines the issues, or 'headwinds', preventing aviation from becoming a truly market-based sector. It paints a brief portrait of the history of regulation and deregulation in aviation and the role of competition policy in a liberalised aviation marketplace. It then focuses on the level playing field, which is often used to argue for protectionist policies and ownership restrictions on air carriers. The paper suggests that some of the controls on market access in place today may do more harm to consumers and the broader economy than good. the issue of aviation liberalization.

This paper, based on a published report by the International Transport Forum at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (ITF), examines the issues, or 'headwinds', preventing aviation from becoming a truly market-based sector. It paints a brief portrait of the history of regulation and deregulation in aviation and the role of competition policy in a liberalised aviation marketplace. It then focuses on the level playing field, which is often used to argue for protectionist policies and ownership restrictions on air carriers. The paper suggests that some of the controls on market access in place today may do more harm to consumers and the broader economy than good. the issue of aviation liberalization.

In 2019, the High Court of Australia used the term 'level playing field' no less than 18 times when considering limits on electoral campaign expenditure. This article examines the usefulness of this metaphor when assessing the opportunity to compete in elections on an equal basis. It shows that the metaphor is often used in electoral jurisprudence and by electoral monitoring bodies, but rarely subject to analysis. One place where it has been analysed is in the democratisation literature, where it is defined in terms of access to state resources, media, and the law. However, it needs further elaboration to make it useful in analysing the fairness of electoral competition in established democracies. The assumption of only two teams, incumbents and opposition, needs to be modified through considering the hierarchy of incumbency benefits. A case study of the 2019 Australian federal election illustrates the differential access to state resources of electoral contenders as well as the need to add the role of private money to the attributes of the playing field. It finds that although there has been some levelling of the playing field at the State and Territory level, at the federal level there has been further tilting.

In this article, we explain how several environmental groups are attempting to influence environmental policy by changing the total amount of pollution allowed within the tradable emissions market. We highlight the case where environmental groups may participate in strategic behaviour to resemble cooperative coalition behaviour. We present an interesting way that environmental groups can encourage their goal of reducing pollution, contrary to the industrial/business groups' desires. This is a major concern in our world, and such a new approach could be adopted more broadly.

OECD Working Papers should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its member countries. The opinions expressed and arguments employed are those of the author(s). Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to the Economics Department, OECD,

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright

The heterogeneous abilities of players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, a lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies is implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, that is, by leveling the playing field. Some of those policies, known as affirmative action (AA) policies, are practiced in ethical response to historical discrimination against particular social groups, and are also aimed at increasing competition. This survey summarizes the rapidly growing literature on contest theory regarding AA and other policies that level the playing field. Using a general theoretical structure, we outline the theoretical, experimental, and empirical research findings on contest outcomes under a multitude of policy mechanisms, and in doing so, we touch upon some of the common debates in the AA literature.

Гендерная верификация в спорте: противоречивый опыт США 1 Аннотация. Неопределенность в решении проблемы допуска к участию в спортивных соревнованиях различного уровня, которая сохраняется на уровне международных организаций, обусловливает стремление законодателя в ряде государств предложить свое видение этого вопроса. Особый интерес в этом смысле представляют США, где коллизия между принципом равенства, особенно в отношении национальных меньшинств, и справедливой конкуренцией в спорте решается по-разному. С одной стороны, эта проблема существенно политизирована. С другой-штаты имеют беспрецедентно широкие полномочия в сфере нормотворчества, что создает предпосылки для формирования диаметрально противоположных позиций, иногда не совпадающих с позицией федерального центра. В то время как на федеральном уровне законодательно закреплена широкая трактовка пола, включающая сексуальную ориентацию и гендерную идентичность, в некоторых штатах, в частности в Айдахо, при решении вопроса о допуске к соревнованиям предписано ориентироваться на биологический пол, сформированный при рождении. Противников Закона штата Айдахо «О справедливости в женском спорте» 2020 г. можно разделить на две группы: на лиц, акцентирующих внимание на этической стороне вопроса, которые отмечают, что по новому закону любой желающий может поставить под сомнение пол спортсмена, что потребует прохождения дополнительных обследований; и на лиц, которые отстаивают права трансгендеров. Это обусловило повышенное внимание законодателя к обоснованию необходимости законодательного решения, которое апеллирует не только к судебной практике и доктринальным подходам, но и к результатам медицинских исследований. Целый ряд штатов последовали данному примеру, и хотя не везде идея гендерной верификации в спорте была доведена до логического завершения, сама возможность отступления от закрепленных федеральным законодательством стандартов недискриминации, базирующихся на расширительном толковании пола, создала уникальную возможность для отступления от ложно понятых идей толерантности и политкорректности. 1 Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ в рамках научного проекта № 18-29-14055.

It is too early to make a complete judgment on the effectiveness of Directive 2004/25/EC on Takeover Bids as a regulatory mechanism. Such a decision would involve determining whether the Directive: achieves its goals, secures high levels of compliance from Member States and market participants and is democratically accountable. However, this paper places the Directive under a regulatory microscope in order to reflect upon some of its potential strengths and failings in respect of these criteria. A central regulatory problem for European legislators involved determining the optimal balance between harmonization and diversity. In an attempt to reach agreement between Member States, a framework Directive was agreed laying down minimum standards for takeover regulation and a number of key provisions were made optional. On the one hand, it is argued that even this "light regulatory touch" may have jeopardised the existing efficient self-regulatory regime which operates in the UK, the largest European takeover market. On the other hand, by allowing Member States a significant degree of discretion in implementing the Directive, problems of interpretation and classification arise (is the Directive a company law directive or a capital markets directive?), regulatory gaps may be identified, national differences emerge and the achievement of the Directive's goal of facilitating takeovers and yielding a level playing field may be thwarted. In respect of the latter, the paper focuses on the restrictions on frustrating action and the breakthrough rule. Finally, the paper seeks to determine whether, in this context, competition ii is preferable to harmonisation. It was hoped that by setting down benchmarks the Directive might "put a floor to the race to the bottom." Unfortunately, it is argued that the picture post-implementation does not support this contention.

While women's presence in the leadership ranks of international sporting bodies has increased over the past decade, women continue to be underrepresented relative to their involvement in sports. Seeing qualified women in sports leadership positions can serve as a strong motivator for female athletes, which is important given the strong link between girls' participation in sports and positive outcomes in education, health, and positioning in the workforce. The important multiplier effects that sports can have for girls and women, and the important effects that positive female outcomes can have for economic growth, makes promoting gender equality in sports leadership a wise societal investment.

Alternatywni dostawcy usług płatniczych na europejskim rynku płatności detalicznych Alternative Payment Providers on the European Retail Payment Market Słowa kluczowe: rynek płatności detalicznych; niebankowi dostawcy usług płatniczych; instytucja płatnicza; instytucja pieniądza elektronicznego; TPP

Should government service delivery be outsourced to the private sector? In a randomized field experiment across 572 Indonesian localities, we show that allowing for outsourcing reduced the operating costs of a subsidized food program without sacrificing quality. However, citizens only reaped the gains from efficiency in terms of lower prices in areas where we exogenously increased the level of competition in the bidding process. We find that while the selection among bids during the procurement process appears broadly sensible, elites were sometimes able to block the process entirely, either ex-ante or ex-post, limiting the magnitude of the gains from outsourcing.

During the past few years, the financial industry has been characterised by an ongoing cross-sector and cross-border consolidation of financial institutions spanning banking, securities, and insurance institutions and the blurring demarcation of their respective products and instruments. Against the backdrop of these changes, the creation of a level playing field for financial services has become a key challenge for policy makers, regulators, and market participants alike. At different national and international levels, regulators, and supervisors have been responding to this challenge with a plethora of measures. This paper presents a number of initiatives at different supervisory levels in view of recent financial sector developments and discusses how the challenge of a level playing field is being tackled.

During the past few years, the financial industry has been characterised by an ongoing cross-sector and cross-border consolidation of financial institutions spanning banking, securities, and insurance institutions and the blurring demarcation of their respective products and instruments. Against the backdrop of these changes, the creation of a level playing field for financial services has become a key challenge for policy makers, regulators, and market participants alike. At different national and international levels, regulators, and supervisors have been responding to this challenge with a plethora of measures. This paper presents a number of initiatives at different supervisory levels in view of recent financial sector developments and discusses how the challenge of a level playing field is being tackled.

This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. Note by Turkey: The information in this document with reference to "Cyprus" relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no single authority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Turkey recognises the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of the United Nations, Turkey shall preserve its position concerning the "Cyprus issue".

The promotion of consumer protection and competition is essential for the well functioning of the energy sector. Consumers need to make informed choices and a well functioning market should enable them to choose between various energy suppliers and offers. Despite retail competition has been supported by a gradual reform in many countries, most customers are not actively participating in the energy markets. The European Commission and UE National Regulatory Authorities support the development of the energy sector by promoting competition as well as consumer protection. Moreover, the Energy Community and the Association of Mediterranean Regulators for Electricity and Natural Gas operate to establish a common frame and a well functioning energy market. Thanks to the above mentioned entities, the best regulatory models are shared for the benefit of customers and in order to deal with numerous areas of concern, such as the lack of incentives for new suppliers to enter the market, the unfair terms and asymmetries affecting consumers in a negative way and the need of measures to ensure the supply to vulnerable customers. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an overview of the international cooperation in the field of consumer protection in the energy sector and of the way private law tools (regulated contract terms or mandatory quality standards, for example) may be used to overcome inequalities in bargaining power and to ban unfair practices which distort competition and harm consumers. The paper will be also focusing on the Italian retail energy market as a case study.

The Treaty provisions on state aid control should ensure a level playing field within Member States and the functioning of the internal market. To achieve this objective, rules regarding compatibility of state aid must be aligned with the priorities of the EU policies concerned. The review of the Guidelines for State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy is perfectly timed with the new Industrial Strategy for a Globally Competitive, Green, and Digital Europe. It is an opportunity to address shortcomings of the current guidelines to design an effective instrument which is coherent with the Union's policies for energy and the environment.

The Treaty provisions on state aid control should ensure a level playing field within Member States and the functioning of the internal market. To achieve this objective, rules regarding compatibility of state aid must be aligned with the priorities of the EU policies concerned. The review of the Guidelines for State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy is perfectly timed with the new Industrial Strategy for a Globally Competitive, Green, and Digital Europe. It is an opportunity to address shortcomings of the current guidelines to design an effective instrument which is coherent with the Union's policies for energy and the environment.

The Treaty provisions on state aid control should ensure a level playing field within Member States and the functioning of the internal market. To achieve this objective, rules regarding compatibility of state aid must be aligned with the priorities of the EU policies concerned. The review of the Guidelines for State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy is perfectly timed with the new Industrial Strategy for a Globally Competitive, Green, and Digital Europe. It is an opportunity to address shortcomings of the current guidelines to design an effective instrument which is coherent with the Union's policies for energy and the environment.

On 15 July 2020, the EU Commission published a proposal for a directive amending, for the sixth time, Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation. The DAC7 Proposal extends EU tax transparency rules to digital platforms. It is proposed that EU Member States will automatically exchange information on income generated by sellers on digital platforms. The authors discuss the content of the DAC7 proposal and try to assess whether it is necessary and proportionate. With respect to proportionality, the authors look in particular at the administrative costs and privacy aspects of the proposal but also consider the consequences for a level playing field for companies. Throughout the article, the authors examine whether the proposal is sufficiently clear. DAC7, online, platforms, e-commerce, automatic information exchange, EU legislation, Platform Operators, Reportable Seller, GDPR, level playing field, digitalization

Tiivistelmä: Tässä tutkimuksessa käsitellään EU:n päästökauppajärjestelmään liittyvän regulaation taloudellisia vaikutuksia ja erityisesti jäsenmaiden välillä olevien erojen seurauksia. Tutkimus on osa laajempaa tutkimusta (Upston-Hooper et al, 2006), joka käsittelee EU:n päästökauppajärjestelmän laillisia aspekteja. Tutkimus kuuluu TEKES:n rahoittamaan CLIMBUS-ohjelmaan.

Two-sided payment card markets generate costs that have to be distributed among the participating actors. For this purpose, payment card networks set an interchange fee, which is the fee paid by the merchant's bank to the cardholder's bank per transaction. While in recent years many antitrust authorities all over the world-including the European Commission-have opened proceedings against card brands in order to verify whether agreements to collectively establish the level of interchange fees are anticompetitive, the Reserve Bank of Australia-as a regulator-has directly tried to address market failures by lowering the level of interchange fees and changing some network rules. The US has followed with new legislation on financial consumer protection, which also intervenes on interchange fees. This has opened a strong debate not only on legitimacy of interchange fees, but also on the appropriateness of different public tools to address such issues. Drawing from economic and legal theories and a comparative analysis of recent case law in the EU and other jurisdictions, this work investigates whether a regulation rather than a purely competition policy approach would be more appropriate in this field, considering in particular, at EU level, all of the competition and regulatory concerns that have arisen from the operation of SEPA with multilateral interchange fees. The paper concludes that a wider regulation approach could address some of the shortcomings of a purely antitrust approach, proving to be highly beneficial to the development of an efficient European single payments area. The European Credit Research Institute (ECRI) is a research institution based in Brussels. Established in 1999 for the study of banking and credit in Europe, ECRI focuses on institutional, economic and legal aspects related to retail finance and credit reporting. The institute provides expert analysis and academic research for a better understanding of the economic and social impact of credit. ECRI supports and funds independent academic research projects. The institute monitors markets and regulatory changes and looks at their impact nationally and internationally.

While Canadian federal and provincial governments have made progress in reducing the tax burden on business investment in recent years, the 2009 budget season also saw more counterproductive tax policies that favour certain industries and disadvantage others. In this Commentary, the authors assess the implications of these trends for Canada’s competitiveness as they update their annual survey of marginal effective