EC Competition Policy : emasculating the Common Law Doctrine of Restraint of Trade?

Judicial analysis of the interface between EC competition law and the common law is rare. For this reason, the English High Court’s judgment in Days Medical Aids Limited v. Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co. Limited and Ors is of note. This judgment is of enduring interest because its interpretation of EU law emasculates the common law restraint of trade doctrine (‘doctrine’) in respect of some commercial contracts. This note argues that the scope accorded by the High Court to EU law is not necessarily supported by the cited authorities and, further, that it places the longstanding doctrine in a precarious position. It challenges the High Court’s depiction of the relationship between the doctrine and competition law in this case as a contentious one.