"This volume contains papers presented at the 18th Annual EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop. The papers examine means of balancing effective (public) competition law enforcement and the requirements of legitimate and accountable exercise of public authority. The authors address the design and performance of various enforcement tools at European and national levels, including sanctions and remedies but also distinctive instruments under Regulation 1/2003 (eg commitment procedures) and under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Article 106(3) when used as a basis for infringement procedures). From the perspective of legitimacy, reflections focus on the implications of fundamental rights standards and general principles of law for the EU's complex and quasi-federal enforcement architecture. Issues that may sometimes escape judicial scrutiny are also discussed, such as how agencies prioritise their activities, and how investigation responsibilities are distributed within the European Competition Network. Effectiveness and legitimacy are then considered in the context of public enforcement cooperation beyond the EU, where international organisations, regional cooperation and a range of formal and informal modes of governance prevail."--

This volume contains papers presented at the 18th Annual EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop. The papers examine means of balancing effective (public) competition law enforcement and the requirements of legitimate and accountable exercise of public authority. The authors address the design and performance of various enforcement tools at European and national levels, including sanctions and remedies but also distinctive instruments under Regulation 1/2003 (eg commitment procedures) and under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (Article 106(3) when used as a basis for infringement procedures). From the perspective of legitimacy, reflections focus on the implications of fundamental rights standards and general principles of law for the EU's complex and quasi-federal enforcement architecture. Issues that may sometimes escape judicial scrutiny are also discussed, such as how agencies prioritise their activities, and how investigation responsibilities are distributed within the European Competition Network. Effectiveness and legitimacy are then considered in the context of public enforcement cooperation beyond the EU, where international organisations, regional cooperation and a range of formal and informal modes of governance prevail.

The European Union (EU) leniency programme is a key weapon in the Commission’s fight against hard-core cartels. Much of the success of EU cartel enforcement depends on the continued effectiveness of the leniency policy and is especially critical in response to the growth of private enforcement. This book offers a comprehensive description of the development of the policy, along with a normative framework that promises to ensure the full legitimacy of the leniency programme: the Commission’s policy should pursue not only effectiveness but also fairness. It is the first work to extensively analyse the effectiveness and fairness in the EU leniency policy. Proceeding systematically from clarifying the concepts of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘fairness’ to addressing the tension between leniency and private actions for damages, the author discusses the nature of, and interrelations among, such aspects as the following: – the theoretical model of the EU fining policy; – the compatibility of the EU enforcement system with fundamental rights protection; – the gathering and evaluation of evidence at the preliminary investigation stage; – the severity and foreseeability of the EU cartel fines; – judicial review by the EU Courts in competition matters; – to what extent the current policy is effective and fair; and – reforms brought about by the 2002 and 2006 Leniency Notices and the leniency-related amendments by the 2014 Antitrust Damages Directive. A key feature is the author’s presentation of a normative framework to test the effectiveness (deterrence) and substantive fairness (retribution) of the EU leniency policy. As a clear demonstration of how to forestall the danger of focusing on effectiveness of leniency at the expense of fairness, both in a substantive and in a procedural sense, this book is a major contribution to the literature of competition law. It will prove to be of great value to competition authorities, antitrust practitioners and interested academics not only in Europe but also throughout the world.

The controversy surrounding EU competition rules has grown in recent years. Pressure from such phenomena as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the digital economy have fostered a fragmentation in the interpretation of the rules at both national and EU levels. This volume takes stock of the current situation, assessing the successes and failures of the prevailing ‘modernisation’ policy and setting forth a range of potential legal adaptations designed to offer the right responses to a rapidly changing world. The book’s contributions are based on papers delivered at the 2022 Annual Conference of the Global Competition Law Center (GCLC) at the College of Europe in Bruges. The authors include prominent practitioners and academics, members of the European Commission, representatives of national competition authorities, and judges from both EU and national courts. They address such salient issues as the following: free competition versus ‘regulated competition’ as alternative or complementary models; new methods for the identification of consumer harm and benefits; sui generis competition law regimes for specific sectors; State aid enforcement and crisis management; and the green and digital objectives and their legal and political implications. Taken together, the essays provide extensive treatment of the EU Courts’ jurisprudence and the literature in the field. For practitioners, policymakers and academics working with competition law, the book will clearly explain the new competencies of the Commission, raise awareness of the latest case law on the analysis of effects, and ensure a forward-looking approach to competition law enforcement in Europe.

This volume contains papers presented at the 16th Annual EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop, held at the European University Institute on 17-18 June 2011. This edition of the Workshop examined the emerging and increasingly important use of private rights of action before national courts, and the prospects for legislation and soft law initiatives at the level of the EU. The book has been updated and reflects the European Commission's private enforcement package of June 2013. Furthermore, the experiences of various national jurisdictions are discussed, both within Europe and in the US and Canada. As a whole, the volume explores how public and private enforcement might function harmoniously, as an 'integrated' system, to promote the public interest while ensuring that individual rights created in this field by the EU competition rules are vindicated. The contributors have, however, devoted significant analysis to the tensions between those two modes of enforcement. Authors contributing to this book include: Enno Ahlenstiel Donald Baker Jochen Burrichter Horst Butz Scott Campbell Brian Facey Tristan Feunteun Ian Forrester Andrew Foster Andrew Gavil Barry Hawk James Keyte Assimakis Komninos Bruno Lasserre Frédéric Louis Mel Marquis Veljko Milutinovic Luis Silva Morais Tom Ottervanger Silvia Pietrini Mark Powell John Ratliff J Thomas Rosch David Rosner Mario Siragusa James Venit

This Handbook will be an indispensable reference work for practitioners and scholars, as well as for those in an enforcement environment.