The work challenges the commonly accepted idea that the European single market needs a harmonized company law as a precondition for its correct functioning, on the basis of a law and economics comparison with the American situation. The study critically analyzes the two major reasons advanced to justify harmonization - the race to the bottom argument and the standardization argument - on the basis of the regulatory competition paradigm and concludes that they are basically wrong. Instead of pursuing harmonization of substantive company law, the proposal is to adjust conflict of law rules in favor of the incorporation theory as ruled by the European Court of Justice in its important Centros-decision of March 1999. Companies should be granted freedom of establishment and free movement among jurisdictions in the European Union.

"Regulatory competition within Europe and internationally, operates in several fields with different outcomes. This book offers a comparative legal and economic analysis of corporate, securities and competition law, exploring the reasons behind such differences. The books conceptual framework covers the most relevant drivers of competition, including legal actors incentives, channels of competition and governance design. It shows how the different drivers and institutional designs are shaping competitive interactions, drawing relevant conclusions for both general and field specific regulatory policy. Providing a comparative analysis of regulatory competition in three legal fields, this book will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics in law, economics and political science, as well as policymakers legislator, regulator, judiciary at both national and European levels."--Publisher

This new Sixth Edition of a major work by the well-known competition law team at Van Bael & Bellis in Brussels brings the book up to date to take account of the many developments in the case law and relevant legislation that have occurred since the Fifth Edition in 2010. The authors have also taken the opportunity to write a much-extended chapter on private enforcement and a dedicated section on competition law in the pharmaceutical sector. As one would expect, the new edition continues to meet the challenge for businesses and their counsel, providing a thoroughly practical guide to the application of the EU competition rules. The critical commentary cuts through the theoretical underpinnings of EU competition law to expose its actual impact on business. In this comprehensive new edition, the authors examine such notable developments as the following: important rulings concerning the concept of a restriction by object under Article 101; the extensive case law in the field of cartels, including in relation to cartel facilitation and price signalling; important Article 102 rulings concerning pricing and exclusivity, including the Post Danmark and Intel judgments, as well as standard essential patents; the current block exemption and guidelines applicable to vertical agreements, including those applicable to the motor vehicle sector; developments concerning online distribution, including the Pierre Fabre and Coty rulings; the current guidelines and block exemptions in the field of horizontal cooperation, including the treatment of information exchange; the evolution of EU merger control, including court defeats suffered by the Commission and the case law on procedural infringements; the burgeoning case law related to pharmaceuticals, including concerning reverse payment settlements; the current technology transfer guidelines and block exemption; procedural developments, including in relation to the right to privacy, access to file, parental liability, fining methodology, inability to pay and hybrid settlements; the implementation of the Damages Directive and the first interpretative rulings. As a comprehensive, up-to-date and above all practical analysis of the EU competition rules as developed by the Commission and EU Courts, this authoritative new edition of a classic work stands alone. Like its predecessors, it will be of immeasurable value to both business persons and their legal advisers.

Master's Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: Sehr Gut, University of Hamburg (Institut für Recht und Ökonomik), language: English, abstract: In the US it is principally the states that are in charge of regulating the internal affairs of corporations. States allow firms to relocate in other states. Hence, it is argued that states are engaging in a process of competing for corporate charters. In the EU this basic setting is today quite similar: the EU Member States have separately created their own corporate law systems for decades. Though only since the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in a series of famous decisions from Centros to Inspire Art that Member States have to recognize firms who are incorporated under other Member States’ corporate law, the possibility for regulatory competition in corporate is opened in the EU as well. Comparing the situations in Europe and America from a law and economics perspective, the guiding hypothesis of this thesis is that while regulatory competition in corporate law can lead to efficient results, several problems have to be taken into account. Inefficiencies in American and European regulatory competition in corporate law are mainly due to these problems. A possible normative solution to such inefficiencies is assessed. Other findings of this thesis involves the following aspects: Firstly, while regulatory competition in corporate law in the U.S. might have been economically efficient in the past, it now can be identified several factors that lead to suboptimal outcomes which can be explained positively by applying existing theories on the issue as complementary ones. Secondly, the European legal and economic situation resembles important factors of the American one while there are some major differences that will probably lead to different outcomes to those in the U.S. – though these are suboptimal as well. Thirdly, a normative conclusion is drawn from these comparative observations. It can be efficient to restructure the framework in which regulatory competition in corporate law takes place in both, the U.S. and the EU. It is proposed a form of procedural harmonization and a simplification of conflict of laws that will allow states to compete for separate modules of legal sectors in corporate law. Thus innovation and learning processes in corporate regulations will be easier comparable and a sustainable race to the top may begin.

Increasingly, EU market regulation measures have been introduced in the pursuit of economic justice and welfare. This book illustrates how regulation can help to prevent the abuse of dominance, in particular the abuse of public capital by the state.

Pierre Schammo provides a detailed analysis of EU prospectus law (and the 2010 amendments to the Prospectus Directive) and assesses the new rules governing the European Securities and Markets Authority, including the case law on the delegation of powers to regulatory agencies. In a departure from previous work on securities regulation, the focus is on EU decision-making in the securities field. He examines the EU's approach to prospectus disclosure enforcement and its implementation at Member State level and breaks new ground on regulatory competition in the securities field by providing a 'law-in-context' analysis of the negotiations of the Prospectus Directive.

Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK provides a focused guide to the main provisions and policies at issue in the EU and UK, including topics such as enforcement, abuse of dominance, anti-competitive agreements, cartels, mergers, and market investigations. The book’s contents are tailored to cover all major topics in competition law teaching, and the authors’ clear and accessible writing style offers an engaging and easy to follow overview of the subject for course use. The fifth edition provides a full update for this well-established title, presenting and contextualising the impact of key cases, as well as changes to enforcement practice, and at a legislative and institutional level. There are new, separate chapters in this edition on private enforcement and UK market investigations to reflect the increasing significance of these key areas of competition law practice. Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK integrates useful pedagogical features to help clarify topics and reinforce important points: chapter overviews and summaries highlight the key points to take away from each chapter to structure student learning discussion questions facilitate self-testing and seminar discussions of the major issues covered in each chapter, to help reinforce understanding of these topics further reading lists additional resources in order to guide research and develop subject knowledge a new glossary provides succinct explanations of competition law terminology, ideal for those studying the topic for the first time Clear, focused and student-friendly, this title offers a comprehensive resource for students taking competition law courses, and is supported online by updates to the law offered on Angus MacCulloch’s blog, Who’s Competing (http://whoscompeting.wordpress.com/).