Discriminatory Contracts that Lead to the Distortion of Competition: A Comparative Study of the Iranian, U.S. and E.U. Legal Systems

The debate over the discriminatory contracts is one of the highly contentious subjects of the competition law in various legal systems. In these contracts the contracting firm، in similar circumstances، unduly discriminates between other contracting parties with respect to the price or the contractual conditions and charge different prices and conditions for the same products. One of the most controversial topics is the scope of the prohibition of discrimination: should we regard all kinds of discriminatory contracts anticompetitive and illegal? Are there any exemptions from the prohibition of discrimination? If there are such exemptions، then what is the criterion for distinction between the anticompetitive instances and legitimate ones? Furthermore، the subject of the appropriate legal sanctions against illegal discriminatory practices is one of the considerable issues that need adequate analysis. In this article، the comparative study of the Iranian، E. U. and U. S. competition law in the field is in order and we suggest some amendments in the Iranian statute to make it more compatible with the theoretical and practical exigencies of the field.