European Competition Law Annual – Serie

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.

The European Competition Law Annual 2002 is the seventh 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 seventh Workshop.

The European Competition Law Annual 2004 is ninth 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 Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate that took place at the ninth edition of the workshop (11-12 June 2004), which examined the relationship between competition law and the regulation of (liberal) professions. The (liberal) professions and the rules governing their functioning have become of interest for EC competition law enforcement since the early nineties, making the object of a series of Commission decisions and judgments of the European courts. The subject has gained in importance in the perspective of the recent decentralisation of EC antitrust enforcement. The regulation of (liberal) professions is also a matter of increasing concern from the perspective of freedom of services in the internal market.The workshop participants - a group of senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some Member States, reknown international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic, legal and political/institutional issues that arise in the relationship between competition law and the regulation of (liberal) professions.

This is the tenth in a series of volumes based on the annual workshops on EU Competition Law and Policy held at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate which examined the interaction between competition law and intellectual property law. The workshop participants - a group of senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some EC Member States, reknowned international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic and legal issues that arise in this particular area of application of the EC competition rules, under the following headings: 1) whether the characteristics of intellectual property products/markets justify special treatment under the competition rules; 2) a critical assessment of the Block Exemption Regulation and corresponding Guidelines recently adopted in this area of EC competition law enforcement; 3) the specific enforcement issues that arise in relation to patent pools and collecting societies; and 4) specific problems related to IP in the domains of merger control and application of Article 82 EC.

This is the eleventh in the series on EU Competition Law and Policy produced by the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate which examined the enforcement of the prohibition on cartels. The workshop participants - senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some EC Member States, renowned international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic and legal issues that arise in this particular area, including: 1) unearthing cartels: the evidence; 2) the institutional framework and 3) tools of enforcement.

This is the twelfth in a series on EU Competition Law and Policy produced by the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the written contributions and transcripts in connection with a roundtable debate which examined the EU's enforcement policy as regards the abuse of a dominant position under Article 82 EC. The workshop participants included: senior enforcement officials and policy makers from the European Commission, from the national competition authorities of certain EU Member States and from the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission; and renowned international academics, legal practitioners and professional economists. In an intense, intimate environment, this group of experts debated a number of legal and economic issues structured according to three broad lines of discussion: 1) comparisons of the concept of monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act with that of abuse of dominance under Article 82 EC; 2) a reformed approach to exclusionary unilateral conduct; and 3) exploitative unilateral conduct and related remedies.

This is the thirteenth in a series on EU Competition Law and Policy produced under the auspices of the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume contains the written contributions of numerous competition policy experts, together with the transcripts of a roundtable debate which examined the subject of "settlements" between enforcers of competition law and defendant companies in cartel cases and in other types of antitrust cases. The Workshop participants included: --senior judges from major jurisdictions (the European Union, Germany and the United States); --senior enforcement officials and policy makers from the European Commission, from the national competition authorities of certain EU Member States and from the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission; and --renowned international international academics, legal practitioners and professional economists.In an intense, intimate environment, this group of experts debated a number of legal and economic issues pertaining to two broad lines of discussion: 1)settlements and plea agreements in cartel cases, including their links with leniency programs and with private enforcement; and 2)settlements in "commitment" cases decided under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003 and under comparable procedures of national law.

Every year, top-level market regulators, academics and legal practitioners attend the Annual Competition Workshop organised at the European University Institute in Florence. The speakers are invited to discuss a particular set of critical issues in the field of competition law and policy. The entire content of the proceedings - both the oral discussions and the written contributions - are published in the European Competition Law Annual series.This is the fourteenth in the series, reproducing the debate which in 2009 examined the evaluation of evidence and its judicial review in competition cases. The issues discussed included, among others, the burden of proof, the standard of proof and the standard of review with respect to antitrust infringement decisions and merger decisions, both at the level of the EU and at the national level in a number of Member States.In 2009, the Workshop participants were:Rafael Allendesalazar Kelyn Bacon Judge Gerald Barling Simon Bishop Judge Joachim Bornkamm Judge Michael Boudin Jochen Burrichter Dennis Carlton Fernando Castillo de la Torre Justin Coombs Lorenzo CoppiClaus-Dieter Ehlermann John Fingleton Ian Forrester Judge Nicholas Forwood Eric Gippini-Fournier Barry Hawk Alberto Heimler Per HellströmPieter KalbfleischRobert KwinterBruno LasserrePhilip LoweMel MarquisDamien NevenJudge Aindrias Ó CaoimhLuis Ortiz BlancoJohn RatliffJ. Thomas RoschHeike SchweitzerMario SiragusaJacques SteenbergenJames VenitJudge Nils WahlJudge Vaughn Walker

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.