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• 

  Competition state aid brief
  Issue 1/2019 – October 2019

  • Published: 2019-10-15
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Competition (European Commission)
  • Subject: competition law, competition policy, control of State aid, serial publication, State aid
• Case C-308/19: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție (Romania) lodged on 15 April 2019 — Consiliul Concurenței v Whiteland Import Export SRL

  • Published: 2019-04-15
  • Corporate Author(s): Court of Justice (Court of Justice of the European Union)
  • Subject: administrative sanction, competition law, limitation of legal proceedings, restriction on competition
• Case C-617/17: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 3 April 2019 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Sąd Najwyższy — Poland) — Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń na Życie S.A. v Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Competition — Article 82 EC — Abuse of a dominant position — Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 — Article 3(1) — Application of national competition law — Decision of a national competition authority to impose one fine on the basis of national law and another on the basis of EU law — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 50 — Principle of ne bis in idem — Whether applicable)

  • Published: 2019-04-03
  • Corporate Author(s): Court of Justice (Court of Justice of the European Union)
  • Subject: competition law, competition policy, dominant position, fine, national law, sanction (EU)
• Decision (EU) 2019/339 of the President of the European Commission of 21 February 2019 on the function and terms of reference of the hearing officer in certain trade proceedings

  • Published: 2019-02-21
  • Corporate Author(s): European Commission
  • Subject: administrative control, administrative procedure, commercial law, competition, competition law, European official, restriction on competition, right to justice
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  Review of the Significant Market Power (SMP) guidelines
  Executive summary

  This Study provides support to the European Commission in its revision of the 2002 guidelines on market analysis and the assessment of significant market power for electronic communications networks and services ("2002 SMP Guidelines"). The main issue explored both from an economic and a legal p...

  This Study provides support to the European Commission in its revision of the 2002 guidelines on market analysis and the assessment of significant market power for electronic communications networks and services ("2002 SMP Guidelines"). The main issue explored both from an economic and a legal perspective is the concept of joint SMP of telecoms operators for the purpose of ex ante regulation in the electronic communications sector. The Study also analyses developments in the concept of market definition and the finding of individual SMP as well as implications of the proposed European Electronic Communications Code for the market analysis process. In addition, it covers all the sections of the 2002 SMP Guidelines. The analysis is based on a review of competition case-law, detailed case studies of relevant market analyses conducted by NRAs, the analysis of economic evidence and the results of an interactive workshop with BEREC and NRAs, in which various hypothetical market scenarios were considered. The conclusions of the Study regarding joint SMP are based on general competition law principles, drawing in particular from the ECJ's findings in Airtours and Impala. It takes into account particularities of the electronic communications sector and the extensive experience of market regulation by NRAs in order to suggest the main steps that could be taken by NRAs when assessing whether a market is characterised by joint SMP, and the evidence that could be presented, respectively, in the case there is no pre-existing regulation and where such regulation exists and might affect wholesale and retail outcomes.

  • Published: 2018-04-24
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (European Commission) ; Wik Consult
  • Personal Author(s): Lucidi, Stefano ; Zaman, Rakhal ; Negro, Matteo ; Sörries, Bernd ; Stumpf, Ulrich ; Alexiadis, Peter ; Godlovitch, Ilsa ; Streel, Alexandre de ; Gantumur, Tseveen
  • Subject: case study, case-law, competition law, information technology, information technology industry, regulation of telecommunications, telecommunications industry, telecommunications policy, transmission network
• 

  Study in focus
  Competition in air transport

  • Published: 2018-06-05
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union (European Parliament)
  • Personal Author(s): Honnefelder, Stephanie
  • Subject: air transport, airline, anti-subsidy proceeding, competition, competition law, competition policy, control of State aid, international transport
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  Competition policy and an internal energy market
  

  This study identifies selected important competition-related issues in the internal energy market. It discusses the role of competition law with respect to the following issues: State aid, congestion management, capacity remuneration mechanisms, balancing markets, effective competition between s...

  This study identifies selected important competition-related issues in the internal energy market. It discusses the role of competition law with respect to the following issues: State aid, congestion management, capacity remuneration mechanisms, balancing markets, effective competition between suppliers, integration of new players in the market, and energy poverty. To tackle these present and possible upcoming issues, the study provides indications regarding the current and future need for applying instruments of competition law as well as other types of instruments. The study was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON Committee.

  • Published: 2017-11-08
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union (European Parliament)
  • Personal Author(s): Ryszka, Karolina ; Bergen, Kimberley van den ; Batura, Olga ; Haffner, Robert
  • Subject: competition law, competition policy, electrical energy, energy industry, energy policy, energy supply, nuclear energy, renewable energy, single market, State aid
• European competition law and anti-competitive measures by the Member States
  Towards legal principles ensuring the coherence of two levels of governance

  • Published: 2017-09-05
  • Corporate Author(s): European University Institute
  • Personal Author(s): Neergaard, Ulla B
  • Subject: anti-trust legislation, competition (EU), competition law, thesis
• The European approach to the antitrust-patent intersection through the prism of innovation
  In search of more balanced results

  This thesis addresses a topical issue of management of the antitrust-patent intersection, looking at the problem from an innovation perspective. It contributes to the field, first, by showing that from the innovation perspective the problem of biases present in both antitrust and patent decision...

  This thesis addresses a topical issue of management of the antitrust-patent intersection, looking at the problem from an innovation perspective. It contributes to the field, first, by showing that from the innovation perspective the problem of biases present in both antitrust and patent decision-making might be a matter of concern in managing the antitrust-patent intersection. The question of pro-competition bias is explored through an analysis of novel issues recently considered by antitrust authorities. The analysed case studies concern reverse payment settlements, abuse of the patent system, availability of injunctions in the standard essential patent context and the treatment of the antitrust-patent intersection in the pharmaceutical sector inquiry Report prepared by the Commission. The corresponding risk of a pro-patent bias, already visible in the case studies, is examined in detail through an analysis of the design of the forthcoming Unitary Patent Court. Second, this thesis offers an examination of a signalling mechanism as a way of addressing the problem of biases. While observing that antitrust cases picked up by the Commission might serve as a signalling device for the patent system intended to prompt an alternative solution to the problem at hand, ways of developing further a communication by signalling outside the realm of enforcement are explored in an attempt to combat the risk of biases and to ensure an effective division of tasks. By adapting a signalling approach this thesis advocates an interdisciplinary approach to antitrust-patent intersection. It also seeks to combine the economic and a regulatory aspect of the treatment of the antitrust-patent intersection, thus giving it an EU-specific angle. The signalling justification for antitrust involvement in patent matters is based on the perception of the inadequacies of the alternative solutions as offered by the patent system, making an antitrust response grounded in the underlying regulatory system.

  • Published: 2017-07-12
  • Corporate Author(s): European University Institute
  • Personal Author(s): Szreder, Katarzyna Marita
  • Subject: anti-trust legislation, competition law, control of restrictive practices, innovation, patent, pharmaceutical industry, thesis
• Bundling as a leveraging concern under EC competition law
  A legal examination in light of recent economic theory and in comparison with US antitrust law

  • Published: 2017-03-01
  • Corporate Author(s): European University Institute
  • Personal Author(s): Langer, Jurian
  • Subject: anti-trust legislation, competition law, thesis