Competition Policy in the EU : Fifty Years on From the Treaty of Rome

A volume that takes stock and looks ahead on the development and implementation of competition policy in the European Union fifty years after the Treaty of Rome. Competition policy has emerged as a key policy in the EU with competition acting as the driving force for economic efficiency and the welfare of citizens. Case law has been established to control and prevent anti-competitve behavior, state aid control has consolidated and evolved towards a more economic approach, and the authority of the EC and the judicial review of the Court of the First Instance (CFI) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are firmly etsablished. The book provides an economic approach to competition policy and reflects the main areas of interest, open issues and progress in the area. The volume examines the design of competition policy institutions, the evolution of the implementation of competition policy and its convergence or divergence with US practice, restrictive practices, cartels, abuse of dominance, merger control and state aids. The volume also analyses the interaction of competition policy and regulation, and studies its application to telecoms, banking and energy sectors. All chapters are written by leadfing specialists combining theoretical with practical knowledge and discussing the underpinings of the application of law. Contents......Page 8 List of Figures......Page 12 List of Tables......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 15 List of Contributors......Page 19 1.1. The Treaty of Rome......Page 20 1.2. An Overview and Summary of the Contributions......Page 21 1.3. Concluding Remarks......Page 36 2.1. Introduction......Page 40 2.2. How to Design a Modern Competition Policy and Enforcement System......Page 42 2.3. Modernization of the Legal Instruments......Page 43 2.4. Resource and Change Management inside Directorate-General Competition......Page 49 2.5. Reforming the Structures......Page 53 2.6. Reforming the Processes......Page 55 2.7. Current Management Challenges......Page 57 2.8. Resources......Page 58 2.9. Conclusion......Page 60 3.1. Introduction......Page 62 3.2. A Brief Overview of Article 81......Page 64 3.3. The Goal(s) of Article 81......Page 76 3.4. The Concept of 'Restriction of Competition'......Page 79 3.5. Article 81: Structured Rule of Reason or Quasi per se Rule?......Page 81 3.6. Conclusions......Page 84 4.1. Introduction......Page 90 4.2. Dominance......Page 91 4.3. Some Economics of Anticompetitive Exclusion......Page 93 4.4. Predatory Pricing......Page 100 4.5. Discounts and Rebates......Page 103 4.6. Refusal to Supply, Tying, and Bundling......Page 105 4.7. Article 82: The Future......Page 111 5.1. Introduction......Page 114 5.2. Economic Analysis of Collusion......Page 115 5.3. Cartels in the European Union: Law and Practice......Page 124 5.4. A Brief Summary......Page 147 6.1. Introduction......Page 154 6.2. Historical Context......Page 156 6.3. Merger Appraisal and Interventions......Page 168 6.4. Merger Policy Evaluation......Page 182 6.5. Conclusions......Page 187 7.1. Introduction......Page 195 7.2. Why Should State Aid be Prohibited?......Page 196 7.3. When Can State Aid be Beneficial?......Page 205 7.4. The Limits of Economic Analysis......Page 209 7.5. Past Enforcement and the Current Overhaul......Page 213 8.1. Introduction......Page 222 8.2. Comparative Advantages and Disadvantages of Competition Policy and Sector-specific Regulation......Page 229 8.3. How Should the Line be Drawn between the Regulated and Unregulated Parts of a Network Industry?......Page 239 8.4. On the Coexistence of Competition Policy and Sector-specific Regulation......Page 247 9.1. Introduction......Page 255 9.2. The Liberalization Process up to 2003: Introducing Competition......Page 256 9.3. Regulation in a Converging Environment......Page 270 9.4. Conclusion......Page 275 10.1. Introduction......Page 279 10.2. Regulation in the Banking Sector: Rationale and Instruments......Page 281 10.3. Competition in the Banking Sector......Page 282 10.4. Competition and Stability: A Real Trade-off?......Page 284 10.5. Competition Policy in the Banking Sector in the European Union......Page 285 10.6. The Application of Competition Policy to the Banking Sector in the European Union......Page 287 10.7. Integration and Liberalization in the Financial Industry in Europe: Recent Developments......Page 299 10.8. Concluding Remarks......Page 301 11.1. Introduction......Page 303 11.2. Obstacles to Competition in the Energy Sector......Page 304 11.3. Moves towards Deregulation......Page 306 11.4. The First Directives......Page 309 11.5. The Second Directives......Page 312 11.6. Agreements between Firms......Page 313 11.7. Merger Policy......Page 315 11.8. The Impact of Liberalization......Page 318 11.9. The Sector Inquiry of 2005–7......Page 325 11.10. Conclusions......Page 329 12.1. Introduction......Page 333 12.2. Why does Convergence or Divergence between the EU and US Systems Matter?......Page 336 12.3. Similarities and Dissimilarities in the Substance of EU and US Competition Policy......Page 340 12.4. Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces......Page 345 12.5. A Suggested Agenda for the Future: Concepts and Means......Page 352 12.6. Conclusion: Future International Relationships......Page 359 Bibliography......Page 363 Cases Cited......Page 381 European Directives......Page 383 A......Page 386 C......Page 387 E......Page 389 G......Page 390 J......Page 391 M......Page 392 N......Page 393 R......Page 394 S......Page 395 U......Page 396 Z......Page 397 The book takes stock and looks ahead on the development and implementation of competition policy in the European Union (EU) fifty years after the Treaty of Rome. Competition policy has emerged as a key policy in the EU, since today there is consensus that competition is the driving force for economic efficiency and the welfare of citizens. In this period, merger control has been introduced (in 1989) and reformed (in 2004); case law has established Articles 81 and 82 as fundamental tools to control and prevent anti-competitive behavior; state aid control has consolidated and evolved towards a more economic approach; and the authority of the EC and the judicial review of the Court of First Instance (CFI) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are firmly established. The book provides an account of the more economic approach to competition policy and reflects the main areas of interest, learning, open issues, and progress in the area: the design of competition policy institutions; the evolution of the implementation of competition policy and its convergence or divergence with US practice; restrictive practices, cartels, abuse of dominance, merger control, state aids, the interaction of competition policy, and regulation; and studies its application to telecoms, banking, and energy sectors. All the chapters are covered by top specialists combining theoretical with practical knowledge and discussing the economic underpinnings of the application of the law and the main cases This is a volume that takes stock & looks ahead on the development & implementation of competition policy in the European Union 50 years after the Treaty of Rome " ... product of a conference organized by the Public-Private Sector Research Center of IESE Business School on November 19-20, 2007 ..."--Preface