EU Competition Law

he 4 th edition of the Conference "Antitrust in Developing Economies" organized by Concurrences Review in partnership with New York University School of Law was attended by 140 persons on October 27, 2017, at the NYU School of Law's Greenberg Lounge. Attendees encompassed enforcers, academics, economists, attorneys, and students that engaged in a lively debate about developing economies' competition law systems. The keynote speaker for this year's conference was Makan Delrahim, who gave his fi rst public speech as the new Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division during the event. Conference discussion examined the effect on competition law and enforcement in developing countries resulting from today's surge in nationalism, innovations in technology, recent international mergers, and increases in pharmaceutical drug prices. The conference also featured a roundtable discussion with developing country competition enforcement offi cials regarding current enforcement issues. We would like to thank the panel sponsors -Baker McKenzie, Charles River Associates, Compass Lexecon, ELIG Attorneys-at-Law, HFW, King & Wood Mallesons, and White & Case -who helped make this event such a success from both scholarship and networking perspectives. We hope to see you for the fi fth conference, in 2018. Meanwhile, we invite you to review the highlights from the 2017 conference, as set out in this booklet.

Forty years after Lord Cockfield’s White Paper, this article revisits the pivotal role of the completion of the Single Market in reviving the European project according to Delors vision. It also analyzes its developments, transformations, and limitations. From its origins in the aftermath of the 1970s crisis, through to the reshaping of European economic
governance, the structural tension between competition and industrial policy is brought to the fore. Present challenge is twofold: to complete the Single Market in its still fragmented areas (taxation, services, finance) and to rethink it as a strategic lever for a new season of sustainable, coordinated and transition-oriented European industrial policies.

Il 21 marzo 2025 sono state rese pubbliche le statistiche giudiziarie relative all'attività della Corte di giustizia  e del Tribunale  per l'anno 2024. Si tratta di un anno ricco di novità per il contenzioso europeo interessato, come noto, dalla "riforma della Corte". Il contributo si propone di mettere in risalto, attraverso l’analisi di alcune tra le decisioni più rilevanti (specie quelle che presentano particolari profili processuali), due tendenze di fondo che caratterizzano l’attività giudiziaria del 2024. La prima riguarda il ricorso più frequente da parte del Tribunale alla Grande Sezione (o comunque alla composizione allargata) che testimonia il ruolo crescente del giudice di prima istanza nella configurazione dell’assetto giudiziario dell’Unione. Ciò rafforza la legittimità del Tribunale anche alla luce del trasferimento della competenza pregiudiziale e del conseguente dialogo con i giudici comuni. La seconda concerne la selezione più accurata dei casi decisi dalla Grande Sezione della Corte di giustizia, tesa a rafforzare il processo di integrazione europea tramite decisioni di questioni “costituzionali”.

This paper focuses on civil liability under competition law in EU and US. Civil liability is a sanction that imposes obligation on a violator of competition law to compensate for losses caused by the activity of violator. Although antitrust regulations in US and EU have stated regarding civil liability, there is ambiguity in law, which has caused the courts not to award the injured parties' compensation properly. This study is important as civil liability must be analyzed in the field of competition with the increase of anti-competitive behaviors, serious damage caused by them and the necessity of compensating this damage for society. According to Article 101 and 102 of TFEU in EU, the principles of civil liability are based on non-negligent, and according to the Clayton Act, the principles are based on negligence. In US, the method of compensation is based on restitution in kind, but in EU, it is based on pecuniary compensation. Doctrinal research methodology has been adopted to conduct this research. The conditions of injured parties for seeking compensation require better steps, whereby recommendations for the European Commission and the Bureau of Competition have been put forth.

la propiedad intelectual, como fruto de la creatividad humana, está protegida por la ley mediante la marca y el copyright, siempre que posea un nivel adecuado de originalidad y se exprese de manera concreta y fenomenológica. Palabras clave: copyright, marca, propiedad intelectual. 1 Copyright y marca: un poco de claridad La marca registrada y el copyright pertenecen ambos a la propiedad intelectual, pero su finalidad y efectos son diferentes. La marca registrada es un signo concreto que otorga al titular el derecho de uso exclusivo, con el derecho consiguiente de impedir a terceros, competidores, utilizar un signo distintivo similar para caracterizar servicios o productos análogos. Este signo está regulado por el código civil, por el código de la propiedad industrial, por los reglamentos europeos y por las convenciones internacionales. Ha sido definida, icásticamente, también como "vehículo de comunicación", ya que, en calidad de representación gráfica, es idónea para distinguir el producto o servicio ofrecido por la empresa respecto a la plétora de competidores. Por ejemplo, la Citroën LN, la Peugeot 104 y la Talbot Samba rallye eran, en buena medida, el mismo vehículo, pero la marca automovilística diferenciaba el "family feeling" de la parrilla, la motorización y la verdadera filosofía de conducción (hoy queda sólo el allure del logotipo: ¡cuántos apasionados de Alfa Romeo siempre han deplorado el uso de motores Fiat!!). Se observa, por último, que la marca debe presentar, además de la capacidad distintiva, el carácter de novedad y licitud y que su exclusividad se obtiene mediante el registro. El copyright, en cambio, tiene la finalidad de proteger las obras intelectuales y, en consecuencia, de prohibir a terceros copiar y reproducir obras intelectuales. El carácter esencial de esta forma de tutela reside en la "creatividad" de la obra de ingenio, es decir, el autor debe crear algo inédito en cualquier campo (literatura, música, diseño, etc.). Este derecho de autor implica la autorización para reproducir la obra en cuestión, con derecho a la reparación del daño en caso de incumplimiento por parte de un tercero. Para accionar esta tutela, basta que el autor demuestre la paternidad de la obra reproducida ilegítimamente: por lo tanto, puede depositar la obra en la SIAE para certificar su fecha, sobre todo si su creación aún es inédita y por tanto más expuesta al plagio. Sin embargo, si la obra no es original, el depósito en la SIAE no comportará ventaja alguna. 2 Retrato del escritor joven: a) Batman contra el Valencia! En 2014, la EUIPO-oficina europea para el registro y la protección de marcas-recibió una carta de cese y desistimiento por parte de los abogados de DC Comics contra el club de fútbol Valencia. La acusación consistía en la adopción, como logo y signo distintivo, de un murciélago similar al de Batman, personaje clave de la editorial estadounidense. Como explica Plaza Deportiva, el símbolo de Valencia es un murciélago que figura en un escudo pero, a menudo, ha utilizado dicho quiróptero con las alas desplegadas, sin campo; de ahí la oposición de DC Comics. La cuestión es menos sencilla de lo que puede parecer: de hecho, el símbolo del murciélago está muy difundido en la heráldica española, está presente en el escudo de la ciudad de Valencia, y el club de fútbol, fundado en 1919, lo adoptó desde sus inicios; el personaje de Batman, en cambio, fue presentado por su creador, Bob Kane, en 1939 en Detective Comics. (Para sonreír: basta consultar los sitios de aficionados para verificar no tanto el robo de las alas de los bocetos de Leonardo, sino el hecho palmario de que el primer boceto del personaje fue un calco evidente de Flash Gordon de Alex Raymond!!! y, nota bien: aquí cito sólo a Bob Kane, omitiendo a Bill Finger, ya que sigo una tesis que seguramente irritará a otros nobles devotos del cómic en cuestión!). Está claro que Batman, desde 1939 hasta 2025 en que escribo, se ha convertido en un icono de la cultura pop universal; sin embargo, se cuenta que en el siglo XIII el rey Jaume I, reconquistando Valencia a los moros, fue advertido por un murciélago en vuelo sobre una incursión sorpresa del enemigo.

Strong cash flow maintenance is critical in ensuring profitability, investment agility, and long-term competitiveness in the modern maritime business. This presentation explores the financial pressures that faced commercial shipping operators, including volatile freight rates, shifting cargo demand, and rising capital costs associated with fleet upgrades and regulatory compliance. As traditional revenue streams become less predictable, the focus shifts to optimizing financial performance through better cost control, capital allocation, and strategic investments within and beyond core transport operations. The discussion also highlights the increasing impact of global safety regulations on operational budgets and examines how administrative oversight contributes to maintaining efficiency on key shipping routes. One of the key strategic challenges addressed is managing risk exposure balance and liability limits with the realities of systemic and non-systemic market disruptions. The conclusions of exploring forward-looking fleet development projects, designed concerning sustainability and performance, can deliver operational gains and significant long-term value for stakeholders.

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This annotation focuses on the latest (out of three) European Commission decisions on the financing of the new Berlin airport by its public shareholders. The decision is important because it deals with a case having a great impact on the Single Market. Moreover, it constitutes the first example of application of the private investor test in airport financing cases after the publication of the Commission Notice on the notion of State aidthe jewel in the crown of the State Aid Modernisation initiative. The commentary points to the link between politics, law and economics in high-profile State aid cases, questioning the effectiveness of EU State aid control.

Medeni usul hukuku sistemlerinde son yıllarda ortaya çıkan gelişmeler, bu hukuk dalının yeniden değerlendirilmesi sonucunu doğurmuştur. Bu çerçevede ortaya çıkan gelişmelerden birisi, adalete ulaşma hareketidir. Adalete ulaşma hareketinin etkisiyle ortaya çıkan adalet reformu hareketlerinin sonuçlarından birisi ise grup davalarıdır (class actions). 19. yüzyılın sonlarında ortaya çıkan temel sosyal ve hukuki gelişmelerle medeni usul hukukunun geleneksel düşünce yapısından uzaklaşılmış, bireyci yaklaşımdan sosyal refah düşüncesine doğru bir eğilim belirmiştir. Gelişen sosyal hakların, katkısıyla devletin müdahaleci yapısına karşı bireysel haklar giderek kuvvetlenmiştir 1 . Özellikle Kıta Avrupası hukuk sistemlerinden Avusturya Medeni Usul Kanunu'nun hazırlanmasında sosyal eğilimlerin olduğu, daha sonraları ise davanın "sosyal bir olay" olarak görülmeye başlandığı usul hukuku anlayışı ortaya çıkmıştır. Böylece medeni usul hukukunun amacının, sadece bireysel menfaatleri değil, halkın tamamını güvenliğe kavuşturacak 2 kurumları da ihdas etmek olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Daha sonra Alman Hukuku doktrinindeki hâkim görüş de, medeni usul hukukunun bireysel menfaatlerin yanı sıra kollektif menfaatleri de ihmal etmemesi gerektiği üzerinde durmuştur. Kaldı ki, teknolojinin ve sanayinin bu kadar hızlı geliştiği günümüzde, sübjektif hakların yanında kollektif menfaatlerin korunması da bir zorunluluk olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır 3 .

During the last few years the application of EC antitrust law has been subject to a number of changes, aiming at giving a greater role to economic analysis. This is leading to the abandonment of the traditional ordoliberal inspiration of EC competition law. This paper explores how justified is this change. In particular it argues that economic analysis provides different views of how competition works and thet it may affect the application of antitrust at different stages. From this point of view a more economic approach is not necessarily incompatible with a reformed ordoliberal paradigm. What appears incompatible is an approach which substitutes efficiency for competition. Such an approach has gained a role in the US antitrust, but its extension to the EC legal context is bound to produce a number of problems, and to lead to results different from the desired ones.

Cunha assume também as funções de Director do Instituto Jurídico-Interdisciplinar (de que é fundador) dessa Faculdade. É aliás através desse Instituto que Paulo Ferreira da Cunha tem vindo a colaborar com os membros do Projecto de Investigação que edita a E-topia. Recentemente, os laços entre o Instituto Jurídico-Interdisciplinar e o Instituto de Literatura Comparada Margarida Losa foram reforçados com a criação, no Instituto sediado na Faculdade de Direito, de uma linha de investigação intitulada "Direito e Utopia". O curriculum vitae de Paulo Ferreira da Cunha impressiona, pela sua extensão e qualidade. Director dos Cadernos Electrónicos Antígona (www.antigona.web.pt), Co-Director dos

The paper proposes an analytical framework to examine the politicization of competition agencies. It aims to clarify how to distinguish between forms of politicization that can be perceived as neutral and those that pose systemic risks to these agencies. The paper explains that such risks arise when politicization involves the implementation of illiberal politics-that is, politics that reject key tenets of constitutional democracy and entail the arbitrary use of state economic powers-thereby undermining the rule-of-law-based character of competition law enforcement. The description of patterns of this impermissible politicization (referred to as the 'illiberal blueprint') is intended to help identify when red lines have been crossed. The illiberal blueprint includes, among other features, interference in the competition agency's decision-making processes, erosion of its independence, attrition of senior staff, restrictions on the scope of the agency's powers, politically motivated enforcement, self-restraint in cases involving politically connected firms, as well as political pressure on courts and judges. The paper draws on lessons from Hungary and Poland and compares them with recent developments in the U.S. since January 2025, particularly those involving the Federal Trade Commission. The article tentatively concludes that the patterns emerging in the U.S. today are not unique but align with those observed in other countries experiencing democratic backsliding and rule of law crisis.

Bid-rigging cases same as prohibited agreements cases
may end up with the Competition Commission (CC)
decisions imposing fines, giving conditions and obligations, giving recommendation to public institutions and
contracting authorities; or undertakings may voluntarily
propose to have commitments. In the following we will
present shortly cases on each of those described.

The Dutch Future of Pensions Act (Wet toekomst pensioenen, Wtp), effective as of 1 July 2023, introduces a fundamental shift in the second pillar pension system, transitioning from defined benefit promises to defined contribution arrangements. A key element is the collective conversion—known as invaren—of accrued pension entitlements and rights into individual pension assets under the new system.

This article examines the legal implications of invaren, focusing on compatibility with European property rights (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR and Article 17 of the EU Charter), the centrality of the proportionality test, and the procedural safeguards under the Wtp. It also discusses the role of social partners, legal controversies regarding consent from former employees and retirees, and recent political developments, including the revised NSC/BBB proposal introducing individual opt-out rights in lieu of mandatory referenda.

Initial litigation suggests limited judicial resistance, though various claimant foundations have emerged. The article concludes that invaren represents a legally complex but potentially justified collective transition, contingent on a fair balance between collective efficiency and individual legal protection.

Resumen: Tras más de medio siglo de aplicación eminentemente pública del Derecho de la Com­petencia, estamos asistiendo a un impulso de la aplicación privada, que permite a los perjudicados por conductas anticompetitivas reclamar daños y perjuicios ante los tribunales civiles. Tanto la Directiva 2014/104/CE como su transposición en España por el RD Ley 9/2017 significan grandes avances en este ámbito. El objeto del presente trabajo es el análisis y valoración crítica de los primeros pronuncia­mientos judiciales que han tenido lugar resolviendo estas reclamaciones, derivadas principalmente de cárteles (azúcar, seguro decenal, sobres de papel). Se prestará especial atención a los informes periciales de valoración del daño, así como la diferente eficacia de las acciones follow-on y las stand-alone.Palabras clave: aplicación privada, acciones de daños, Directiva, estimación del daño, acciones stand-alone.: After more than half a century of public enforcement of Competition law in the EU...

This paper develops a decision-theoretic analysis demonstrating why the goals of a legal regime are distinct from the decision rules created to achieve such goals and argues that this distinction is an essential yet overlooked dimension in the existing debates on the objectives of antitrust policy. The paper then applies this framework to address one of the most controversial questions in this literature: whether antitrust should promote consumer welfare or preserve the competitive process itself. It argues that consumer welfare is a goal but not necessarily a decision rule and that, in contrast, preservation of the competitive process is not a goal and can only serve as a proxy for other normative objectives.

The increase in the concentration of the banking industry across European Union countries during the last fifteen years can be explained in terms of: a) global factors, like the comprehensive adoption of technological innovations, the intensification of competition that has resulted from the deregulation of the financial sector and, more recently, as a consequence of the government interventions and forced acquisitions prompted by the 2007-2009 financial crisis; and, b) factors that have been specific to the E.U., in particular, the structural changes that took place in the region as a result of the creation of the Single Financial Market (1993) and the introduction of the euro (1999). This work analyzes the concentration process of the banking industry in the E.U. during the last fifteen years giving preeminence to the strategic choices made by the region?s commercial banks. It also reports the most visible E.U. banks? M&As and government interventions that resulted from the 2007-2...

The first part presents the main economic mechanisms related to the alternative "infrastructure/service", the theoretical basis on which these mechanisms rely and the related regulatory schemes. M.A.Bergman discusses the trade-offs between competition in the entire value chain that comes from infrastructure-based competition and the economies of scale from access-based competition, as well as how balance is affected by the choice of a specific regulatory model. He demonstrates that while Infrastructure-based competition potentially offers less regulationinduced inefficiencies, service-based competition allows the industry to realize greater returns to scale (including network effects). He reviews a number of regulatory options, such as vertical separation, government ownership and access regulation, and analyses their implications in terms of desirability of competition on infrastructure. A.Henten and K.E.Skouby discuss the theory of 'the ladder of investment' in broadband access. This theory states that the entry of players on the market occurs on a step-by-step basis ('rung-wise'). Players enter the market in areas where barriers to entry are low and, later in the process, enter areas with higher barriers. A frame-setting discussion on both the theory and the environment in which it has developed is proposed, highlighted via three country cases (the UK, the US, and Denmark) and emphasises how these countries approached the facility-based vs. servicebased competition issue. Europe and the related impact in terms of economic welfare. This study points out the importance of a balanced approach: it seems that there is no single way towards competition, but that markets need a healthy mixture of both service-based and infrastructure-based competition. They also show that, with convergence and new technologies like broadband and VoIP, access at the levels of networks, services, applications and devices and own infrastructure and thus LLU will become increasingly important for operators to be able to differentiate their products. U.Blum, N.Krap and C.Growitsch starting point is the announcement, in summer 2005, of Deutsche Telekom to precondition a 3 billion euro investment in a fibre optic network not to be regulated with respect to pricing and third party access. Unless the new technologically-leading infrastructure was exempted from regulation, Telekom threatened the investment to be made in other areas or countries. On that basis, to develop a regulator's strategy that allows investments to occur but prevents monopolistic prices, the authors model an investor's decision problem under threat of regulation and show that the mere threat of a regulator's intervention may prevent

The paper focuses on the traditional and alternative mechanisms for insurance risk transfer that are available to global as well as to domestic insurance companies. The findings suggest that traditional insurance risk transfer solutions available to insurance industry nowadays will be predominant in the foreseeable future but the increasing role of alternative solutions is to be expected as the complementary rather than supplementary solution to traditional transfer. Additionally, findings suggest that it is reasonable to expect that future development of risk transfer solutions in Serbia will follow the path that has been passed by global insurance industry.

In a world marked by financial instability, limited growth, rising inequality, deteriorating environment, growing corporate consolidation, and political turmoil, calls are made to shift the dominant competition law paradigm towards new directions. These may bring competition law beyond its usual comfort zone of assessing business, or government, practices from the point of view of their effect on prices, output and, more broadly, on consumer welfare. Competition law is seen as a tool to be used in various circumstances in order to 'correct' market as well as non-market (e.g. government) failures, that result from restrictions of competition, to the extent that these affect social welfare. These failures may relate to the protection of personal data and privacy, the protection of the environment, the promotion of social mobility, the harnessing of disruptive innovation, or the mitigation of technology risks. Some go even further and argue that competition law may well be employed in order to preserve a number of other 'values' of social justice, thought to be intrinsic in democratic capitalism and the liberal order, and to which competition law should be sensitive. By putting forward the model of 'polycentric competition law' and by explaining how this compares with the mainstream 'monocentric' vision that has prevailed so far, the study aims to unveil and portray the rites of passage in this transition, and to explore the liminal condition of modern competition law.

conclusions reached at the doctrinal stage). For example, the economic efficiency versus justice debate that permeates the question of the objectives of competition law belongs to the jurisprudential stage as it refers to the values that should provide content to the principle of coherence in legal interpretation. We have focused elsewhere on the interaction of economics and the law at the doctrinal and adjudicative stage: Lianos, I. ( ) 'Lost in translation? Towards a theory of economic transplants', Current Legal Problems 62(1) 346-404. This study will mainly focus on the jurisprudential stage, although as I will further explain, and probably contrary to Dworkin's view, there is a considerable interplay and mutual dependence between the jurisprudential and adjudicative stages, as in reality the values pursued by the specific legal system are function of a comparative institutional analysis performed at the adjudicative stage. However, for the adepts of a normative perspective in EU competition law, the two stages are clearly separated, with the adjudicative stage being locked in to decisions made at the jurisprudential stage. 11 One could advance a growth-related theory of competition law emphasizing the supply side, instead of the demand side (consumers). There is evidence that competition increases the chances of innovation and growth: Arrow, K (1962) 'Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Inventions', in (R. Nelson ed.) The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, NBER (noting that a monopolist that is not exposed to actual or potential competition has less incentive to invest in R&D than a firm in a competitive industry); Spence, M. ( ) 'Cost Reduction, Competition, and Industry Performance', Econometrica 52 101-122; Dutz, M. & A. Hayri (2000) 'Does More Intense Competition Lead to Higher Growth?' (World Bank Working Paper No. 2320); Aghion, Ph. M. Dewatripont & P. Rey ( ), 'Competition, Financial Discipline and Growth', Review of Economic Studies 66 825-852; On the contrary, Schumpeterian models of growth argue that competition does not lead to growth. There are a lot of variants of this doctrine from the narrower (that we need big firms to generate innovation) to the broader (that industrial policies should take precedence to competition polices or that too much competition is bad for growth). See, however, Aghion, Ph. & R. Griffith (2005), Competition and Growth: Reconciling Theory and Evidence, MIT Press (noting that the greatest rate of innovation is observed in industries where the two main firms are technologically neck-and-neck. In these instances the incentive to innovate and thus to escape competition is the greatest). 12 Hicks, J.R. (1939). 'The Foundations of Welfare Economics' Economic Journal 49(196) 696-712; Kaldor, N. (1939) 'Welfare Propositions in Economics and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility' Economic Journal 49(145) 549-52 13 See, Blaug, M. (2007) 'The Fundamental Theorems of Modern Welfare Economics, Historically Contemplated', History of Political Economy 39(2) 185-207.

The intersection between competition law and intellectual property has been a contentious issue since the very beginnings of European Communities (EC) competition law. Both intellectual property and competition law pursue the aim of enhancing economic welfare and innovation, but their direct objectives seem to be in conflict. Whereas intellectual property focuses on the reward of inventive effort and the inventor’s incentives to innovate by conferring an exclusive right on the use of the invention, competition law emphasises the dissemination of innovation by ensuring diffusion and access.

The rise of economics as one of the main (some will advance the most important) "source" of competition law discourse is well documented. This study focuses on a facet of the integration of economic analysis in competition law: "economic transplants". The term "economic transplants" refers to specific economic concepts that were incorporated into the legal discourse by an act of "translation". They represent the ultimate degree of interaction between the legal and the economic systems. Using a paradigmatic approach the study examines their specific characteristics and what distinguishes them from other forms of integration of economic analysis in competition law. It critically assesses their role and their impact on the legal and the economic discourses. It is submitted that the "paradigm" of translation (and translation theory) is the most adequate explanatory framework for taking into account the dual nature of economic transplants and it can also serve, more broadly, to conceptualize the interaction of law with other social sciences. "Film Director [in Japanese, to the interpreter]: The translation is very important, O.K.? The translation. Interpreter [in Japanese, to the director]: Yes, of course. I understand. Film Director [in Japanese, to Bob]: Mr. Bob. You are sitting quietly in your study. And then there is a bottle of Suntory whiskey on top of the table. You understand, right? With wholehearted feeling, slowly, look at the camera, tenderly, and as if you are meeting old friends, say the words. As if you are Bogie in Casablanca, saying, "Here's looking at you, kid," -Suntory time! Interpreter [In English, to Bob]: He wants you to turn, look in camera. O.K.? Bob: Is that all he said?" The interaction of law with economic theory has been an old story 1 . With some notable exceptions 2 , the first generation of scholarship interested in the interaction of law 1

In a tort law regime established on the basis of corrective justice considerations, causation requirements will tend to play a predominant role in regulating the damages claims brought forward. The requirement of the causal link between the harm suffered and the anticompetitive conduct in damages claims for infringement of EU competition law has nevertheless received remarkably little attention in the recently adopted EU Damages Directive and in academic literature. The Damages Directive and some recent case law of the Court of Justice of the EU proceed to some limited harmonization of evidential presumptions and procedural requirements, as well as the exclusion of national rules that may deny the right of the parties harmed by the competition law infringement to receive compensation. Yet, the contours of the requirement of causal link are left to the interpretative work of national courts, in view of their respective tort law doctrines on causation and the lack of a proper EU tort law. The study first explores the role of the concept of causation in claims for damages for infringement of EU competition law and the different approaches taken by the legal systems of EU Member States in conceptualizing the inquiry of a causal link. It then focuses on the methods used by the tort law systems of the EU Member States, the recent Damages Directive and the case law of the EU Court to engage with situations of causal uncertainty, which may frequently arise in the context of competition law actions for damages, in view of the complexity of the commercial environment and the multiple factors influencing markets.

Expanding the digital economy represents a major challenge for EU competition policy and regulations. Despite their importance, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) receive minimal attention regarding their perspectives on the issue. Hence, the main aim of the paper is to examine their attitudes towards digital market competition and its regulations. The paper analyses secondary data from the Flash Eurobarometer 510 survey with more than 12,800 observations from EU countries. Moreover, it also identifies potential factors affecting firms' attitudes based on the logistic regression. Firms' attitudes seem to be correlated with awareness of the EU competition policies for digital transition. Better-informed firms have more favourable attitudes towards market competition. They are increasingly perceiving competition as a catalyst for innovation. Moreover, they are increasingly reporting significant problems with the lack of competition when applying to digital platforms for customer outreach. Insufficient competition in the digital market appears to be a problem for a significant proportion of SMEs'. We also identified the sectors and countries experiencing the worst problems associated with limited competition in the digital platform market. Smaller firms and those with a long presence on the market are more supportive of the Digital Markets Act as an effective regulation.

Yargılama faaliyetleri içerisinde yargılama giderleri ve vekalet ücreti hem miktar hem de aidiyet açısından önemli yer tutmaktadır. Yargılama giderlerine ilişkin önemli yargılama ilkelerinden biri de usul ekonomisi ilkesidir. Bu ilke yargılamanın basit ve ucuz şekilde ilerlemesini ve sonuçlanmasını amaçlayan bir ilkedir. Ancak söz konusu ucuzluk ilkesinin geniş yorumlanması sonucunda avukatın emek ve çabasının da göz ardı edilmesi yargılama faaliyetlerinin amacı ile bağdaşmamaktadır. İdari işlemlere yönelik açılan iptal davalarında hukuka aykırı olduğu düşünülen birden fazla idari işlem olabileceği gibi bu işlemlere ilişkin davaların hangi şartlarda ve nasıl açılacağı da sorun teşkil etmektedir. 2577 sayılı İdari Yargılama Usulü Kanunu'nun 5'inci maddesinde davacı tarafa kural olarak her idari işleme karşı ayrı dava açma hakkı tanınmıştır. Kanunda ön görülen bu hak ile birlikte usul ekonomisi ilkesi değerlendirildiğinde karşımıza sorunlar çıkmaktadır 1 Özellikle diğer düzenlemelere göre yeni kabul edilmesi gereken Avukatlık Asgari Ücret Tarifesinde yer alan seri davalara ilişkin düzenleme de uygulama açısından sorunlar oluşturabilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın konusunu oluşturan Danıştay 7'nci Daire kararı da davacı tarafa tanınan hak, avukatın emek ve çabası ile usul ekonomisinin yorumlanması yönünden farklı değerlendirmelere yer verilmiştir. Çalışmada vekalet ücreti, usul ekonomisi, bağlantılı ve seri dava ayrımına ilişkin genel bilgilere yer verildikten sonra inceleme konusu kararda yer alan idari işlemlere ve birden fazla idari işleme karşı açılan davalardan avukatlık vekalet ücretine hükmedilmesine ilişkin sorunlar üzerinde durmaya çalışılacaktır.

Both papers on the objectives of competition law are very clear in their analyses. Both provide a solid basis for discussion. David Gerber makes a clear-cut distinction between two different sets of questions where economics can come into play: first, economics play an important role with respect to the analysis of facts and empirical data; second, economics may serve as a policy input when deciding on the normative question of which goals competitions policy should serve. The paper reflects, in a clear manner, the state of the law: European competition law, in particular the core provisions within Articles 81 and 82, in the courts' interpretations, are process-oriented, and not, at an initial stage of analysis, directly consumeroriented. Christian Ahlborn and Jorge Padilla very thoroughly analyze the different reform proposals and develop their own suggestions. Deciding in favour of consumer welfare as the single goal of competition policy, they discuss a very sophisticated rule of reason and a qualified per se legality approach and evaluate both under cost-of-error aspects. What remains is the question at the policy level. Should the Community's competition policy, as restated by David Gerber, be changed in a fundamental sense -possibly in the sense of a direct and sole consumer-welfare orientation as advocated by Christian Ahlborn and Jorge Padilla? After the judgment of the Court of Justice of 15 March 2007 in British Airways, 1 the overall structure of competition law seems more transparent than ever before. At first examination, European competition law follows an open, structure-and process-oriented approach, meaning that it is unnecessary -even for an application of the prohibition rules -to prove that, in a specific case, the conduct is detrimental to consumers.

The conventional method in determining the market position of undertakings-defining the relevant market, ascertaining the market shares, ''qualitative'' analysis-has had to face more and more competition in the past decades. For some issues, there exist more suitable methods of analysis today than the antiquated market-share approach. In an age in which product differentiation represents the norm, approaches that base an analysis of competition on market shares can seem more and more to be behind the times. In its assessment of mergers between manufacturers of differentiated products, the European Commission has made a remarkably clean break with the outmoded market-share-based analysis. For such a modernization of competition law application, the general framework of European law offers better conditions than the American system. The European Commission has a freer choice of methods than its American counterparts, the antitrust agencies, because the Commission itselfwithout invoking a court-is competent to issue decisions, while those addressed can have the Commission's prohibition decisions reviewed by a court. Also, the courts of the European Union, when they have been involved in merger cases, have themselves contributed to modernizing the decision-making practice.

While agents have been active in the sporting field since the late 1800s, sports agents and their activities have grown in prominence only in more recent times, particularly as a result of typically adverse headlines. Agents are generally considered to be necessary (or some might say a necessary evil) for the sporting industry, in the representation of sportsmen and women, the consultation of sports clubs and franchises, or the facilitation of employment contracts and transfer deals. In contrast to players and clubs (not to mention sports federations and governing bodies), however, sports agents are not engaged in sporting endeavour. Rather, the essence of their role is an economic one for the provision of services. This peripheral position of sports agents implies that their interests are likely to be quite different from those of other stakeholders in the sports industry – but it also gives rise to a significant regulatory conundrum. This conundrum has become especially apparent i...

Plaintiffs forum shop when bringing a competition law related damages claim. That is well known. The advantages of forum shopping are apparently now also recognised by potential defendants. This is illustrated by the first Dutch torpedo case. Here, in anticipation of damages claims against them, potential defendants have themselves brought a case in the Netherlands. They are seeking a declaration of noninfringement or non-liability. In this case, the Dutch courts have (again) accepted jurisdiction, confirming their readiness to take on the challenges posed by this new area of law. In this article we shall discuss this case in the light of the principles of jurisdiction under private international law. We shall consider its implications for the procedural strategy of companies which have been found to have participated in an international cartel and whether such implications will be shortlived, given the imminent implementation of Directive 2014/104/EU on damages actions for infringe...

Prescriptive jurisdiction of states is based on principles such as territoriality, nationality, passive nationality, universality, and protection. Although jurisdiction to prescribe is limited to the territory of the relevant State, geographic scope of application of any legislation can be determined in an extraterritorial manner. Regardless of the intense discussions on this issue, extraterritorial prescriptive jurisdiction is not considered a violation of international law. Decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice which was rendered in the SS Lotus case was accepted as the basis for objective territoriality principle and effect doctrine. In other words, States can exercise prescriptive jurisdiction for acts and conducts committed abroad that have an impact on their countries. Principle of objective nationality and effect doctrine are not the only basis for the application of legislation of a state to the conducts taking place abroad or persons living in another country. A state can also exercise extraterritorial prescriptive jurisdiction relying on the principle of passive nationality, protection principle or another basis. In Turkish law, geographic scope of application of an act and other legislation are rarely determined expressly on an extraterritorial basis. The extraterritoriality of any rule is defined by interpretation taking into account the purpose of the relevant rule. Extraterritorial application or implication of Turkish law can be seen in various areas such as legislation on anti-trust, personal data protection, anti-corruption, and securities. In addition to legislations regarding these issues, other legislations that have extraterritorial scope of application in Turkish law are discussed in this study.

This article measures the impact of the agency responsible for enforcing competition law, in the outcome of antitrust trials in Chile. Using statistics on lawsuits since the inception of the new Competition Tribunal in 2004, we find that the involvement of the public agency increases the probability of obtaining a guilty verdict in an antitrust lawsuit by 40 percentage points. Conditional to the issuance of a verdict, the participation of the prosecutor raises the likelihood of a conviction by 38 percentage points. The results are robust to possible selection bias by the public agency. The prosecutor is inclined to takes part in cases involving sensitive markets and in accusations of collusion. The State-related character of the accused entity, in addition to its size, does not affect the probability of intervention by the prosecutor in a lawsuit.

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

In recent years, many of the Asian countries follow suit to implement competition law. Are there any differences with regards to the intention to implement competition law? Are they driven by similar lines of reasoning? Many of the previous research shed light on one or two Asia countries reasons for implementing competition law. Others focus on the US antitrust law or EU competition law only. This paper compares and contrasts the similarities and differences with regards to the major motives in implementing competition laws/antitrust laws. We first used content analysis to categorize the reasons for implementation of competition law. After that, data visualization method is used to study the the reasons mentioned by official websites and academic journals which lead to the implementation of competition laws in different countries.

En el marco de las diligencias preliminares del proceso civil, constituyó una significativa novedad de la reforma del año 2000 la exigencia de que el promotor de las mismas prestase caución. Para responder, prima facie, de los gastos y los perjuicios que comportase la práctica de las primeras. Concluido el procedimiento, la Ley previó, sin demasiado acierto, el destino que debía darse a dicha caución. El presente trabajo se consagra a analizar, con detenimiento, el sistema regulatorio de una cuestión aparentemente nimia pero con una honda repercusión práctica, cuya disciplina normativa, como se verá, adolece de muchos y severos déficits.

Due to low patenting intensity, trade secret protection is the primary tool for the protection of valuable entrepreneurial knowledge base in the Baltic states. The adoption of the Trade Secrets Directive, which aims to harmonize trade secret protection at the European Union level, potentially has a significant impact in the region. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why the changes brought by the Trade Secrets Directive may not have a desirable harmonization effect. Firstly, it is a minimum harmonization directive which allows more far-reaching protection in the different EU Member States. Secondly, some aspects of the protection of trade secrets are at the discretion of the EU Member States. Two notable examples are the duration of the limitation period and the scope of the lawful acquisition, use and disclosure of a trade secret. Thirdly, the Directive leaves some essential questions outside its scope. One of such issues is the employee's duty of confidentiality, especially after the termination of an employment contract. Besides, the Baltic states differ about the additional level of protection -the so-called "confidential information". The paper aims to evaluate the implementation models of the Trade Secrets Directive in the national law of the three Baltic states, i.e., Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and to compare them. Likewise, the paper endeavours to highlight the remaining or newly emerged differences in the legal protection of trade secrets. To achieve this aim, the authors analyse the legal regulation of trade secrets in the three Baltic states before and after the implementation of the Trade Secrets Directive.

This article aims at answering the question whether the Commission’s proposal intended to empower Member States’ competition authorities to be more effective enforcers (ECN+ Directive) actually brings effective solutions to all weaknesses of Regulation 1/2003, which influenced an inefficient application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU in some Member States (among them Poland, which will be taken as a point of reference). The first part of the article constitutes a review upon the application of Regulation 1/2003 in Poland. Interestingly, the beginning of its enforcement coincides with the total period of application of EU law in Poland, since the country joined the EU on the same day the Regulation entered into force. The problem with Regulation 1/2003 is that it does not seem to enhance the enforcement of the Community’s competition rules by national enforcers, including NCAs and courts. The reason for this failure lies inter alia in the deficiencies of the principles adopted in the R...