THE ECJ’S ERZBERGER RULING: A DOOR WIDELY OPENED TO NATIONAL MODELS OF EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION?

In the recent decision of the Erzberger case C-566/15, the Court of Justice of the European Union had to address the issue of whether the national rules on employee participation in company management (so-called co-determination) are in line with EU law, in particular whether they do not restrict the free movement of workers within the EU internal market. Although in the present case the judges did not find the existence of restrictions, in their brief ruling they did not give answers to all the questions related to this case and the co-determination in multinational business groups. The article attempts to show for which cases of co-determination we already have clear answers in the current EU law and for which we do not. Overall, however, the analysis shows that the EU Court of Justice decision was pragmatic and therefore wise

The Biography between Life and Myth. Lukáš Fasora, Josef Hybeš (1850–1921): život, dílo a mýtus [Josef Hybeš (1850–1921): Life, Work, and Myth], Prague: NLN 2017

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CARTELS BY ROBOTS – CURRENT ANTITRUST LAW IN SEARCH OF AN ANSWER

The discussion about influence of PC algorithms on the theory and practice of competition (anti-cartel) law has its practical justification. PC algorithms enable the processing of such a volume of data, plus a very quick and lasting, non-emotional reaction, that the underlying assumptions on which competition protection has so far been built cease to work. Transparency of markets ceases to foster competition and the market can be riddled of price competition without any hint of contact or agreement that is currently considered as a cartel. The possibility of suppressing price competition in online trading markets cannot but provoke a reaction of the current competition law. The paper thus attempts to analyze this issue through a review of the ongoing debate. It provides information on where the current and future threats to competition are seen today and what recipes to tackle them are resented. It looks in a critical manner at the instruments that the current competition law can use for this purpose. It focuses exclusively on the question of pricing made by computer algorithms, which may or may not fulfil the present definition of a cartel. The issue of abuse of a dominant position is paid attention only when it is relevant to deal with price collusion on oligopolistic markets

THREE CHALLENGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR ANTITRUST POLICY AND LAW

The following text addresses the challenges that the increasing use of artificial intelligence, in particular smart algorithms that collect and process large amounts of data for internet gatekeepers (i.e., the largest online service providers), poses for competition protection. The analysis focuses on three areas: the potential clash between competition protection and consumer (privacy) protection that may be caused by the push for sharing and portability of client data in order to open up online markets; then the issue of super-dominance caused by internet gatekeepers escaping both their competitors and effective control due to the massive deployment of AI; and finally, the issue of the algorithmic price collusion that seemingly turns some existing competition protection paradigms on their head. These three challenges are critically analyzed regarding their reflection in the literature and in the existing decision-making practice of competition authorities

CONCENTRATIONS IN DIGITAL SECTOR - A NEW EU ANTITRUST STANDARD FOR “KILLER ACQUISITIONS” NEEDED?

Digital technologies are one of the most important factors driving the current EU to revise its competition rules, inter alia in an area as sensitive to corporate strategies as mergers and acquisitions. The European Commission and a number of independent experts have already identified several key problems that the online environment raises for the application of traditional merger control institutes. Among them the takeovers of promising start-ups, that have already attracted millions of users to their freely distributed application, by some of the major online world players. They are sometimes referred to as “killer acquisitions” and they could even not to come under the authority of the European Commission because the EU Merger Regulation turnover criteria are not achieved. Should other criteria be chosen, or would such take-overs rather be controlled ex-post and under the risk of a de-concentration being ordered? The Commission is coming up with the first outlines of an answer. Its search for a response to these merger control challenges should be closely monitored by corporate practice, as it will set future boundaries for corporate strategies in the markets of tomorrow. The paper tries to structure the main challenges and possible EU law answers to the issue to predict what undertakings must be ready for when contemplating their future strategies for European markets

DYNAMIC INDUSTRIES REQUIRE A DYNAMIC APPROACH TO LAW? ON THE ILLUMINAGRAIL TAKEOVER

The factually complicated and legally innovative development of the Grail by Illumina takeover case is now more than two years old and there is still no final denouement in sight. It is a case with significant implications for the future development of the application of EU competition law in the area of takeover control. In this case, the Commission has tested both its new approach to the use of Article 22 EUMR and the application of the harm theory of foreclosure of rivals from a market that is nascent and will reach its full potential only in the future. This text seeks to outline the complicated development of the case, the various aspects of which are now being dealt with in parallel before the Commission, the General Court, and the Court of Justice. In addition, it seeks to show which questions of the future EU merger control regime have already been answered, which remain to be answered and what are the limits of the search for answers

A Proposal to Detect Dark Matter Using Axionic Topological Antiferromagnets

Antiferromagnetically doped topological insulators (A-TI) are among the candidates to host dynamical axion fields and axion-polaritons; weakly interacting quasiparticles that are analogous to the dark axion, a long sought after candidate dark matter particle. Here we demonstrate that using the axion quasiparticle antiferromagnetic resonance in A-TI's in conjunction with low-noise methods of detecting THz photons presents a viable route to detect axion dark matter with mass 0.7 to 3.5 meV, a range currently inaccessible to other dark matter detection experiments and proposals. The benefits of this method at high frequency are the tunability of the resonance with applied magnetic field, and the use of A-TI samples with volumes much larger than 1 mm$^3$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. v2 accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. Many points clarified, some parameter estimates revise

Compression behaviour and failure mechanisms of a safety culvert made of hollow high-performance concrete blocks

The safety culvert composed of hollow high-performance concrete blocks is designed to reduce the risk of injury in the event of a collision. This work presents a new design with an opening for water flow, tests it, identifies its weaknesses, and discusses possible improvements. The numerical model is constructed, validated by experiment, and used to study the effect of design parameters on the load capacity, compression behaviour, and failure mechanisms. The response varies most markedly with the opening diameter. The failure mode changes from bending failure to concrete crushing as the diameter decreases. The effect is most pronounced for diameters less than 400 mm, where the load capacity increases by 6 kN per millimetre reduction. If a crack develops in the culvert during its service life, the first such crack will form in the top layer of blocks, followed by a crack in the opening. These areas should be monitored more closely during follow-up tests with passing vehicles