The Caledonian Competition Authority announces pursue competition law enforcement in the context of Covid-19 pandemic
Résumé
The coronavirus pandemic has and will have a huge impact on our economy. Undoubtedly, we face the worst crisis in our recent history. A major consequence is serious financial distress for a myriad of undertakings. A phenomenal number of companies are already close to bankruptcy. It is too early to accurately assess the economic damage caused by the Corona crisis. Nevertheless, competition authorities around the world have reacted swiftly to deal with this unprecedented challenge [1]. The crisis affects drastically both consumers and companies. On the one hand, consumers are prisoners of the containment imposed by their Government. They lost their freedom of choice and have to shop at the stores closest to their homes (pharmacies, food retail stores etc.). Thus, a higher price can be charged due to the inelastic demand from consumers. On the other hand, some companies no longer have consumers while others are seeing the demand for their products and services soar. This situation raises serious competition concerns for competition authorities. The main issue is whether competition law should apply or not in pandemic crisis. Most competition authorities answered yes.