Baku State University

Competition law is playing an ever increasing role within the European Union. This is mainly due to the incredibly large fines imposed in this context. At the least, these fines are approaching the level of criminal sanctions giving rise to drastic consequences. In general sense, competition is a basic mechanism of the market economy which encourages companies to offer consumers goods and services at the most favourable terms. It encourages efficiency and innovation and reduces prices. In order to be effective, competition requires companies to act independently of each other, but subject to the competitive pressure exerted by the others.