This book represents a fresh approach to EC competition law - one that is of singular value in grappling with the huge economic challenges we face today. As a critical analysis of the law and options available to European competition authorities and legal practitioners in the field, it stands without peer. It will be greatly welcomed by lawyers, policymakers and other interested professionals in Europe and throughout the world.
By their nature, remedies are central to competition law enforcement and represent the yardstick against which the efficiency of the overall system can be measured. Yet very rarely have remedies been treated in a horizontal and comprehensive manner from the combined perspectives of substance, process and policy. The present volume, developed in partnership with the College of Europe’s Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC), provides coherent, practical, and authoritative commentaries by leading experts from the GCLC’s incomparable network. The contributions – originally presented at the 2019 GCLC annual conference – examine remedies to assess the overall effectiveness of competition law enforcement in merger, antitrust and State aid matters. The overall topic is presented under five headings: objectives and limitations of remedies; types of remedies in competition law enforcement; implementation and process; ex post assessment of remedies and policy lessons; and national and international approaches. The high-profile and wide-ranging group of authors includes the Director-General of the European Commission’s competition department, lawyers from major international firms, and well-known economists and academics specialising in competition law. With a sharp focus on how to make competition rules work well in today’s digital environment, this systematic and coherent analysis illuminates an issue that we need to fully grasp and understand in order to make sense of competition policy, law and enforcement in the years and decades to come.
This book offers an original interpretation of the case law on exclusionary abuses under Article 82 EC (now Article 102 TFEU, according to the numbering introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon), and it identifies the various factors that have shaped the application of this provision through its history. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the European Commission's Guidance on enforcement priorities under Article 82 and it makes a provocative proposal for further modernisation of the analysis of exclusionary abuses by recasting the prohibition of abuse of dominance as a norm which deals only with unilateral conduct. The first part of the book reconsiders fundamental legal and economic concepts underpinning the assessment of exclusionary abuses and identifies the difficulties posed by the principal forms of abusive practices (refusals to deal, predatory pricing, rebates and tying). The EU case law is compared with the US experience under Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The second part of the book explores solutions, based on the premise that the reform of Article 82 (now Article 102 TFEU) should be in line with the modernisation of Article 81 (now Article 101 TFEU) and the EU merger control rules. The last chapter demonstrates the gradual convergence of the application of Articles 81 and 82 in the area of vertical restraints. It points towards a redefined division of labour between these two provisions with a view to ensuring efficient enforcement, better protection of consumer interests, and clearer incentives for dominant firms to invest in desirable commercial practices. The book will be of interest to students and practitioners of EU competition law, and to those in other jurisdictions where the application of competition law to practices of dominant firms is controversial.
Vertical agreements between undertakings at the various levels of a supply chain have long been seen as a fundamental focus for antitrust legislation, such as the European Union’s Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER). It goes without saying that such issues are particularly prevalent in digital markets. This authoritative commentary analyses the main restrictions in vertical agreements, emphasising the numerous new and contentious issues arising in the context of Internet distribution. It offers both legal and economic perspectives, as well as examines enforcement and possible changes to the legislation. The contributors – leading competition authority officials, lawyers, economists, and academics – provide in-depth discussions of topics that have emerged as areas for conscious policy choices, including the following: restrictions of online sales; price parity obligations; resale price maintenance; the duration of non-compete obligations; sustainability agreements; geo-blocking practices; and restraint of trade in pharmaceuticals. The contributions have emerged from the 2020 conference of the Global Competition Law Centre at the College of Europe in the context of the currently ongoing review of the VBER and vertical guidelines. With its multidisciplinary approach highlighting the efficiencies and harms caused by the restrictions at stake, this important book clearly shows how law and practice apply to specific issues relating to digital markets and how the law is likely to change in the near future. It will be of immeasurable value to lawyers and officials concerned with European competition law and academics in the field.
Competition Law and Policy in the EU --Article 101(1) --Article 101(3) --Market Definition --Cartels --Non-Covert Horizontal Cooperation --Vertical Agreements Affecting Distribution or Supply --Merger Control --Intellectual Property Rights --Article 102 --The Competition Rules and the Acts of Member States --Sectoral Regimes --Enforcement and Procedure --Fines for Substantive Infringements --The Enforcement of the Competition Rules by National Competition Authorities --Litigating Infringements in National Courts --State Aids.
There is growing consensus among international trade negotiators and policymakers that a prime area for future multilateral discussion is competition policy. Competition policy includes antitrust policy (including merger regulation and control) but is often extended to include international trade measures and other policies that affect the structure, conduct, and performance of individual industries. This study includes country studies of competition policy in Western Europe, North America, and the Far East (with a focus on Japan) in the light of increasingly globalized activities of business firms. Areas where there are major differences in philosophy, policy, or practice are identified, with emphasis on those differences that could lead to economic costs and international friction. Alternatives for eliminating these costs and frictions are discussed, including unilateral policy changes, bilateral or multilateral harmonization of policies, and creation of new international regimes to supplement or replace national or regional regimes.
Through a collaboration among twenty legal scholars from North America, Europe and Asia, this book presents an international consensus on the use of patent remedies for complex products such as smartphones, computer networks, and the Internet of Things. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
This publication is based on two seminars and international conferences that took place at Porto Law School, Catholic University of Portugal in March 2014 and March 2015, with the support of the European Commission, in order to contribute to a productive debate about the challenges of European Competition law in the next decade.
