| Peter C. Carstensen, Ioannis Lianos
Food & Agriculture
The Concurrences Competition Law Review’s latest On-Topic issue “Competition Law and Policy and the Food Value Chain” (No. 1-2016) features articles by AAI President Diana Moss and AAI Advisory Board members Peter C. Carstensen and Ioannis Lianos. The issue revisits the complex issues rising in the food sector and its value chain.
Both the European Union and the U.S. competition authorities have scrutinized relationships between food chain actors. The increasing market concentration raises new challenges for competition enforcement authorities dealing with the creation of new powerful actors at the distribution but also at the factor of production (input) levels. The concept of superior bargaining power has played a key role, sometimes criticised, in order to assess these relationships. The papers also discuss the critical intersection of competition law with public policy, with the aim to preserve sustainability, food safety and the stability of agricultural markets.
Moss’s article “Consolidation in agriculture and food: Challenges for competition enforcement” identifies new challenges for competition enforcement due to significant consolidation in food and agriculture. AAI Advisory Board Member and Emeritus Professor of Law at University of Wisconsin Law School Peter C. Carstensen penned the article “The mixed record of the Obama administration in food competition policy leaves many unresolved issues: “Talking the talk, but not walking the walk.” AAI Advisory Board Member and Professor in Faculty of Laws at University College London Ioannis Lianos provided the introduction for the On-Topic issue. He also co-authored the article “Superior bargaining power and the global food value chain: The wuthering heights of holistic competition law?” with Claudio Lombardi.
