General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3123 |
| Course name: | Competition Law I |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: |
|
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | Yes |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course introduces students to basic concepts of competition law (known as antitrust law in the U.S.). Despite being relatively new to the region, competition law has become highly pertinent in East Asia in recent years. In Hong Kong, the Legislative Council finally adopted a cross-sector competition law for the city in June 2012. In China, the Anti-Monopoly Law came into effect on August 1, 2008 and has attracted much attention around the world ever since. With its aggressive enforcement stance, South Korea has become a favorite jurisdiction for multinational corporations to lodge complaints against competitors. With increasing cross-border enforcement across the globe, competition law will surely take on yet greater importance in the future.
This course will focus on two of the three main areas of competition law: cartels and restrictive agreements and monopolization. It will focus on U.S. law with some attention paid at the end of the course to the new Hong Kong Competition Ordinance.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Thomas Cheng | thomas.cheng@hku.hk | CCT 611 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 To introduce students to the basics of competition law with materials from the U.S.
CLO 2 To illustrate the interplay between law, economics (especially industrial organization), public policy in the context of competition law cases.
CLO 3 To develop among students the ability to think critically about competition law cases and about law in general.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 20% | 1, 2, 3 | |
| Case commentary | 21 Oct 2024 | 30% | 1, 2, 3 | |
| Final take home exam | 2 Dec 2024 | 50% | 1 | 1, 2, 3 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/