With courts and arbitrators functioning daily as front line decision-makers applying EU competition law, this book reflects on a variety of issues related to the litigation and arbitration of cases in this field. It provides expert analysis from perspe

In recent years, there has been a decentralisation of the enforcement of the EU competition law provisions, Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Consequently, the national application of these provisions has become increasingly more common across the European Union. This national application poses various challenges for those concerned about the consistent application of EU competition law. This edited collection provides an in-depth analysis of the most important limitations of, and the challenges concerning, the applicability of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU at national level. Divided into five parts, the book starts out by examining how the consistent enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU operates as a general EU competition policy. It then discusses several recent landmark cases of the European Court of Justice on Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, before proceeding to analyse certain additional, unique jurisdictional challenges to the uniform application of the EU competition law provisions. Subsequently, it focuses on one of the most important instruments that can help to achieve the uniform application of EU competition law in cases handled by the national courts: preliminary rulings. Finally, it provides selective examples of how Articles 101 and 102 TFEU are effectively applied at national level, thereby providing additional input into how problematic the issue of consistent application of EU competition law is in practice.

The decentralisation of competition law enforcement and the stimulation of private damages actions in the European Union go hand in hand with the increasingly international character of antitrust proceedings. As a consequence, there is an ever-growing need for clear and workable rules to co-ordinate cross-border actions, whether they are of a judicial or administrative nature: rules on jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition as well as rules on sharing of evidence, the protection of business secrets and the interplay between administrative and judicial procedures. This book offers an in-depth analysis of these long neglected yet practically most important topics. It is the fruit of a research project funded by the European Commission, which brought together experts from academia, private practice and policy-making from across Europe and the United States. The 16 chapters cover the relevant provisions of the Brussels I and Rome I and II Regulations, the co-operation mechanisms provided for by Regulation 1/2003 and selected issues of US procedural law (such as discovery) that are highly relevant for transatlantic damages actions. Each contribution critically analyses the existing legislative framework and formulates specific proposals to consolidate and enhance cross-border antitrust litigation in Europe and beyond.

The European Competition Law Annual 2001 is the sixth in a series of volumes following the annual workshops on EU Competition Law and Policy held at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate that took place at the sixth edition of the Workshop (1-2 June 2001),which examined the conditions for an effective private enforcement of EC antitrust rules. The application of EC antitrust rules in the context of private litigation before national courts and arbitration tribunals is becoming a highly topical subject against the background of the on-going debate about the decentralisation of EC antitrust enforcement. The participants – a group of senior representatives of the Commission, national judges, arbitrators, renowned academics and international legal experts in the field of antitrust - discussed in particular the following aspects: a) the availability and effectiveness of substantive remedies in the enforcement of EC antitrust rules at the EU level in general and in four major EU jurisdictions in particular (England, France, Italy and Germany); b) the procedural issues arising in the enforcement of EC antitrust rules by national courts in four EU jurisdictions (England, France, Italy and Germany) and at the EU level in general; c) the problems arising in the application of Article 81(3) EC by arbitration tribunals. In addition to these issues, the participants also discussed whether the public enforcement of EC antitrust rules could be rendered more efffective by introducing sanctions applicable to the individuals responsible for their violation.

This book provides an introductory but thorough guide to EU competition law, covering the underlying economics, and the key substantive areas of anticompetitive agreements (Article 81), abuses of dominance (Article 82), the application to the most common types of commercial agreement, state aids, state measures limiting competition and mergers. It also examines the procedures under which the relevant competition authorities apply the rules, private enforcement of the rules before the courts, and minimising risk by implementing a compliance programme. The emphasis is practical rather than theoretical: the authors are practitioners in the field of competition law and economics, with many years’ individual and collective experience in the area. This will be an essential reference tool for practitioners, academics and students of EU Competition Law.

The private enforcement of competition law through damages actions and/or injunctions before ordinary courts of justice is currently the preferred system in the United States. It is playing an increasingly important role in Europe by supplementing a still predominantly public system based on disciplinary rules enforced by public authorities that do not entail compensation for victims. Compensation can only be achieved through private enforcement, which is already viewed as an alternative to the public system. This work, whose origins lie in the International Conference on the private enforcement of Competition Law held at the University of Valladolid's School of Law offers a comprehensive, pluralist overview of the subject by providing transversal approaches, joint assessment and information on various national experiences alongside more specific contributions that study specific matters of substantive and procedural law, by covering practically all the relevant issues in this field. The work also addresses the main problems of the system vis-à-vis private international law and its connection and interaction with public enforcement. Also available in Spanish language, with the title: La aplicación privada del Derecho de la competencia.

Setting out the current rules on legal professional privilege (LPP), with specific attention to their relevance in competition investigations, this comprehensive book analyses the practice of LPP by the European Commission and its current interpretations in the European Courts. It also compares this to practice in the EU Member States, as well as other jurisdictions including Japan, the UK, and the US.

Competition litigation has become a major area of practice and almost invariably involves more than one, and often several jurisdictions. Moreover, arbitration and other dispute resolution mechanisms alternative to litigation (ADR) are becoming increasingly important in competition law. This book examines all the relevant aspects of litigation, arbitration and ADR in a number of jurisdictions around the world to provide a thorough and exhaustive guide for practitioners based on the analysis of the policies and principles that underpin the law. The authors and editors are leading practitioners, academics and competition officials in their own jurisdictions and world-wide and bring together unrivalled expertise and practical insights which will be useful in planning and managing multi-jurisdictional competition disputes.

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