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Michael G. Aguinaldo
World Competition
Volume 47, Issue 2 (2024) pp. 145 – 156
https://doi.org/10.54648/woco2024012
Abstract
When the Philippines passed into law its competition act in 2015, it was one of the last countries to enact such law in the region. Its competition authority was formed a year later. Eight years since, and the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCCs) implementation of the law remains an uphill climb. As a new set of leadership took the helm of the Commission, its chairperson outlines reflections, musings, and lessons learned in heading a young agency one year in.
Keywords
Philippines, Philippine Competition Commission, competition advocacy, enforcement, merger review
Extract
The EU has differentiated legal relationships with its nearest geographical neighbours. Arguably, none is more unique than that of the EU with the Vatican City State (VCS) (and by extension, the Holy See). Between the parties is a mere ‘monetary agreement’ that facilitates the official use of the single currency in the territory. It is the only bilateral legal commitment that the parties have undertaken. Yet, this apparent simplicity masks a deeper reality. In fact, the monetary agreement currently in place, which replaced a prior monetary agreement, has now de facto put in an institutional framework on the legal relations of the EU with the Vatican City State and Holy See, with a Joint Committee to govern monetary arrangements, and an obligation to implement, in its own way, many aspects of EU financial regulation. The monetary agreement also provides for jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union to settle disputes arising therefrom. This article contextualizes and analyses the legal relations of the EU with the Vatican City State and Holy See, and argues that more embedded legal relations in the future will be inevitable, leading beyond a mere monetary agreement, but one leading to the adopting of a more sophisticated international agreement.