Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, Charles University in Prague, language: English, abstract: This article examines the European Union competition law in the gas sector, particularly the issue of abuse of dominant position, as it has been developed, through the building the single market, secondary legislature and the case law. It discusses the key challenges of the natural monopoly of gas supply in the current single market. In the article is shown duality between the EU law and international economic relations with the external actors through the case of Gazprom.
Granting rebates to a customer or refusing to supply a competitor are examples of ordinary commercial practices, which become ‘abusive’ under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) when carried out by ‘dominant’ firms. This topical book provides an up-to-date account of the emerging trends in the enforcement and interpretation of this provision at both the EU and national level.
Because the EU depends on a very small number of external suppliers for its natural gas, energy security issues inevitably arise. In theory, competition law should regulate and adjudicate such issues. Yet, because contracts between EU companies and producers are highly sensitive and politically charged, the application of EU competition law to natural gas contracts is far from clear. This important book, drawing on ECJ case law, Commission administrative cases and inquiries, and the full range of relevant legal and economic theory, provides an extremely valuable and detailed study of how EU competition law can be applied to long-term natural gas capacity reservation and commodity contracts. Issues and topics such as the following arise in the course of the analysis: Third Gas Market Directive provisions; Article 102 TFEU cases on strategic under-investment; pre-liberation or "legacy" gas contracts (e.g., with Algeria and Russia); "right of first refusal"; take-or-pay requirement; third-party access; ownership unbundling; effect of elimination of priority access regimes; short-term trading; spot markets; and law and economics of vertical restraints. Focusing on the foreclosing effect of long-term upstream commodity contracts, the author recommends restrictions on the use of capacity reservation contracts, and analyses the efficacy of security of supply as a competition law defence in cases relating to such contracts.
The Law and Economics of Article 82 EC is a comprehensive, integrated treatment of the legal and economic principles that underpin the application of Article 82 EC to the behaviour of dominant firms. Traditional concerns of monopoly behaviour, such as predatory pricing, refusals to deal, excessive pricing, tying and bundling, discount practices, and unlawful discrimination are treated in detail through a review of the applicable economic principles, the case law and decisional practice, and more recent economic and legal writings. In addition, the major constituent elements of Article 82, such as market definition, dominance, effect on trade, and applicable remedies are considered at length. Jointly authored by a lawyer and an economist, The Law and Economics of Article 82 EC contains an integrated approach to the legal and economic principles that frame competition policy in this major area of competition policy. Although written primarily with practitioners and in-house lawyers in mind, The Law and Economics of Article 82 EC is essential reading for anyone with an interest in competition-law enforcement against monopoly behaviour.
Zhoršení vztahů mezi Ruskem a západními zeměmi v uplynulých deseti letech provázelo mimo jiné i vzájemné obviňování z politizace energetických dodávek. Rusko je v tomto smyslu nejčastěji obviňováno spotřebitelskými zeměmi, že dodávky energetických surovin zneužívá jako nátlakového nástroje k dosažení svých zahraničněpolitických cílů. Nejvyhrocenější spory se v tomto ohledu odehrály v souvislosti s přerušením dodávek ruského zemního plynu, které v lednu 2009 významně dopadlo zejména na region jihovýchodní Evropy. Dopad na státy v této části kontinentu byl tvrdý s ohledem na jejich závislost na energetických importech a struktuře ekonomiky. Autor v této knize odpovídá na otázku, zda Ruská federace skutečně zneužívá plynové dodávky jako mocenský nástroj a za jakých podmínek takovéto zneužití hrozí. Na případech 13 zemí zkoumá, na kolik Rusko skrze státem vlastněnou ruskou společnost Gazprom a její dceřiné společnosti jedná dle tzv. strategického přístupu k energetice, tj. zda tyto společnosti fungují jako nástroje ruské zahraniční politiky.
This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of unbundling and, in particular, ownership unbundling policies from the perspective of international economic law. It does so by focusing on the prominent example of the EU’s energy sector and its Third Energy Package. Unbundling has become an increasingly crucial competition instrument in network-bound industries worldwide. It is designed to ensure access to bottleneck infrastructures on fair and non-discriminatory terms and thus to suppress the anti-competitive potential deriving from vertical integration in natural monopoly situations. While promoting important public policy objectives, unbundling policies have also raised a number of legal issues. This book analyzes how international economic law limits the adoption and maintenance of unbundling and related measures and also outlines how international trade law can play a ‘positive’ role in this field. As a result, it provides a valuable reference for academics, practitioners and policy-makers.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, Europe has been struggling to establish a competitive as well as a fully integrated internal energy market. Until the early 1990s, the European energy markets consisted of national monopolies possessing vertically integrated structures. They were also still nationally segregated. Since, the EU has made the decision to open European energy markets to competition and subsequently establish an internal energy market. The European energy markets are currently controlled by a dual structure consisting of two different regulatory frameworks: competition law and sector-specific regulations. The primary goal of these legal instruments is the establishment of an internal energy market. This book aims at analysing the development of the European energy markets and policies from the perspective of competition law as well as sector-specific regulations and, hence, identifying the problems regarding the introduction of competition into the energy markets.
This book sheds new light on the potential application of EU law to situations arising outside EU territory, and its consequences. In today’s globalized world, EU law and the ECJ’s decisions have been calling for exceptions and defining new connecting elements that make the traditional approach of EU law, based on the territoriality principle, less straightforward. This is the case with e.g. the effects doctrine in the context of EU competition law, as was fully recognized after the ECJ’s Intel case. Moreover, recently approved rules concerning the EU’s internal market, EU environmental law and EU data protection law have made it more difficult to define the application of EU law in terms of a pure link to the territoriality principle. The book examines these and other problems from the perspectives of various branches of EU economic law. With regard to EU competition law it presents, among others, studies on the evolution of the effects doctrine in the US and the EU; extraterritoriality of competition law; global cartels; merger control; state aid and cooperation between NCAs. Furthermore, it includes several studies concerning extraterritorial issues in trade relations between the EU and China; EU screening regulation of foreign direct investments; EU trade agreements; EU investment law and EU financial services. The twenty-one contributing authors are internationally respected experts on EU law.
This work contains the papers of the thirteenth Conference on “Antitrust between EU Law and national law”, held in Treviso on May 24 and 25, 2018 under the patronage of the European Lawyers Union – Union des Avocats Européens (UAE), the Associazione Italiana per la Tutela della Concorrenza - the Italian section of the Ligue Internationale du Droit de la Concurrence (LIDC)-, the Associazione Italiana Giuristi di Impresa (AIGI), the European Company Lawyers Association (ECLA), and the Associazione Antitrust Italiana (AAI). Some of the papers have been extensively reviewed and updated by the authors prior to publication. The contributions contained in this volume are the result of an in-depth analysis and study of the most salient issues arising from the application of antitrust rules, carried out by experienced and high-ranking professionals, in-house lawyers, academics and EU/national and international institutional representatives who attended the Conference. They deal with extremely topical issues, lying at the heart of current antitrust debate. Some of the most contemporary topics include those related to private antitrust enforcement after the implementation of Directive 2014/104/EU, and to the interplay between antitrust and intellectual property rights. Ample consideration is also given to recent developments in the field of new technologies and the related antitrust issues, as well as to the relations between consumer protection and antitrust. * * * Questo volume contiene gli atti del XIII Convegno sul tema “Antitrust fra Diritto Nazionale e Diritto dell’Unione Europea”, tenutosi a Treviso il 24 e 25 maggio 2018 con il patrocinio dell’Unione degli Avvocati Europei (UAE), dell’Associazione Italiana per la Tutela della Concorrenza - sezione italiana della Ligue Internationale du Droit de la Concurrence (LIDC) -, dell’Associazione Italiana dei Giuristi di Impresa (AIGI), della European Company Lawyers Association (AEJE-ECLA) e dell’Associazione Antitrust Italiana (AAI). Alcuni contributi sono stati sostanzialmente rivisti ed aggiornati dagli autori prima della pubblicazione. Gli articoli contenuti nel presente volume sono il frutto del prezioso lavoro di studio e approfondimento delle più interessanti tematiche correlate all’applicazione del diritto antitrust, svolto da qualificati esponenti del mondo professionale, imprenditoriale, accademico ed istituzionale, intervenuti al Convegno. I contributi pubblicati affrontano temi di estrema rilevanza, che rappr sentano il cuore delle problematiche antitrust oggi maggiormente dibattute, tra le quali spiccano, per attualità, quelle connesse al private enforcement ed al risarcimento dei danni in seguito dell’attuazione della Direttiva 2014/104/UE, nonché alle interazioni tra diritto antitrust e diritti di proprietà intellettuale. Ampio spazio è inoltre dedicato alle tematiche concernenti le nuove tecnologie e la loro rilevanza dal punto di vista antitrust, nonché ai rapporti tra tutela del consumatore e diritto antitrust.
Succinct and concise, this textbook covers all the procedural and substantive aspects of EU competition law. It explores primary and secondary law through the prism of ECJ case law. Abuse of a dominant position and merger control are discussed and a separate chapter on cartels ensures the student receives the broadest possible perspective on the subject. In addition, the book's consistent structure aids understanding: section summaries underline key principles, questions reinforce learning and essay discussion topics encourage further exploration. By setting out the economic principles which underpin the subject, the author allows the student to engage with the complexity of competition law with confidence. Integrated examples and an uncluttered writing style make this required reading for all students of the subject.
