Frank Wijckmans – författare

Now in its fourth edition, this volume provides comprehensive, specialised coverage of EU competition law applicable to vertical agreements, offering insightful analysis of the new block exemption regime under the Regulation (EU) 2022/720 and the 2022 Vertical Guidelines, and the block exemption regime applicable to the distribution of motor vehicles.Business practice is replete with vertical agreements and practitioners are often asked to advise on the admissibility of certain restrictions of competition included in such agreements. The latest edition of Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law discusses these restrictions and the different distribution systems in which they can be found, including exclusive, selective, and free distribution, as well as franchising and agency. It offers expanded coverage of regulations applicable to online sales and advertising, including a new chapter on e-commerce.The authors draw on their competition law experience to provide detailed and practice-oriented analysis of the EU regulatory framework as applied by the Commission and the EU courts. The latest instalment of an established practitioner text, Vertical Agreements in EU Competition Law is an essential resource for lawyers and legal counsel practising in the field of competition law.

This book gives comprehensive coverage of EU distribution law and the law relating to vertical agreements. Now in its second edition, it is the only book to provide a detailed and practice oriented analysis of the entire scope of vertical agreements under the new legislative framework. Written by two authors who assisted the Commission in its drafting and reviewing of the Regulation, the book gives invaluable practical commentary on the new general block exemption (Regulation 330/2010), the new Motor Vehicle Block Exemption regulation (Regulation 461/2010), and the accompanying new Vertical Guidelines, as well as on agreements which are not covered by a block exemption. The authors consider issues directly relevant in the commercial world, answering questions such as: Under what conditions may a supplier impose territorial restrictions on his dealer network?: Is it possible to impose maximum retail prices?: Are customer restrictions permissible in a selective distribution system?: Can a supplier assume an exclusive supply obligation?: Is an exclusive supply-back obligation included in a subcontracting arrangement enforceable? The authors draw on their experience in this area of competition law to address the more complex issues relating to vertical restraints. They offer practical solutions to commercial problems and provide an indispensible tool for all practitioners in this field.

Investigating, dissolving, and punishing cartels is increasingly a top priority for the European Commission and for national competition authourities. This work offers the most up-to-date and comprehensive examination of the substantive law and procedure of EU competition law as it applies to cartels as well as to other horizontal agreements.This unique work supplies the views of both private practitioners and public enforcers. The private practitioners discuss their day-to-day experience and share the insights which they believe their fellow-practitioners should be aware of. The public enforcers act in tandem with the private practitioners and add in their contribution the specific points of attention which they recommend practitioners should take into account. The work sets out the ways in which a cartel is defined and organised, how a cartel may be detected and investigated, the issue of liability for cartels (including parental and successor liability), the various sanctions available to investigating authorities, and the prospects for private enforcement and damages actions brought by victims of cartels. It addresses the procedure before the European Commission and the European Courts. Finally, the book deals with information exchanges (including an economic perspective), joint R&D agreements, specialisation agreements and other common types of horizontal agreements like joint purchasing, joint selling and standardisation. Containing practical advice for practitioners, overviews of the various stages of cartel enforcement, procedural checklists, analysis of the most recent legislation including the new EU damages directive, and written by authors with extensive experience in advising the Commission's legal service in relation to competition law, this is the most comprehensive text available on cartels in EU competition law.

This book on the EU Private Damages Directive (PDD) offers an in-depth discussion of selected issues of interpretation of the PDD. The Directive sets out certain rules necessary to ensure that anyone who has suffered harm caused by an infringement of competition law by an undertaking or by an association of undertakings, can effectively claim full compensation for that harm from that undertaking or association.Each section corresponds with a chapter of the PDD and commences with a description of the general context within which the specific questions must be placed and understood. The outcome of the actual discussion is then provided in a Q&A format.The chapters are the result of a Closed Workshop organised on 21 May 2015 in Brussels, Belgium and which was attended by a group of competition law specialists from the majority of the EU Member States.