Law and Public Affairs Discussion Group
Dear all,

The Law and Public Affairs Discussion Group would like to invite you for our next week’s session:
Wednesday 3 June 2015 at 12:00
Law and Public Affairs
Agricultural exceptions to antitrust

Speaker: Juan D. Gutierrez, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University

Venue: Oxford Law Faculty Senior Common Room (SCR)

Abstract: State’s price policies for agricultural markets may vary significantly among jurisdictions and in consequence the State’s role in these markets is very different. Political economy for the agricultural sector is a delicate issue in every country and interest groups exercise a great deal of pressure over State organisms, ranging from the Congress to the Executive agencies that regulate or survey these markets. Therefore, a special treatment awarded by the law or by Government’s policies for certain agricultural markets –e.g. legal exemptions and subsidies– is not surprising. Antitrust laws and policies are not alien to these powerful tides, which often turn into special measures towards agricultural markets. Exemptions and exceptions on the enforcement of antitrust laws in these markets have been enacted in several countries due to historical, political, cultural and economic reasons.The main objective of this document is to present agricultural exceptions to competition law from a theoretical and a comparative law approach. For this purpose, the document assesses the competition laws from the United States, European Union, Israel, Canada and several Latin American jurisdictions (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico) and its enforcement in agricultural markets.

You find an complete version of the paper here and an abridged version of this paper here: http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=OXVU1&docId=oxfaleph019304981

Biography: Juan D. Gutiérrez is currently a DPhil student in public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. He is a Colombian lawyer (U. Javeriana) with a decade of professional and academic experience in competition law and policies. He also holds a European Master in Law and Economics (U. of Bologna and Erasmus U. of Rotterdam) and a Master in Public Policy in Latin America from Oxford University. He founded one of the most visited antitrust law blogs (in Spanish): http://www.lalibrecompetencia.com. You may learn more about his experience, publications and research profile here: J. D. Gutiérrez-Rodríguez at BSG.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Sandwiches will be served.

With best wishes,

Pedro Fortes, Maayan Ravid and Felipe Alvarez
Convenors of the Law and Public Affairs Discussion Group