The idea of fairness has recently re-entered the policy discourse underpinning competition law enforcement, in the EU and beyond. Of course, the term "unfair" can be found in the EU Treaty and the avoidance of consumers' exploitation is the ultimate aim of competition principles. Still, the boundaries of fairness as a driver of competition enforcement appear unclear and, for some, dangerously flexible. At the same time, whilst the application of competition rules has over the years been focusing on restrictions to the competitive process with the effect of harming consumers, a wave of cases recently brought or decided at EU and national level appear to be inspired by wide and somewhat elusive fairness considerations, including non-discrimination, neutrality, equality of opportunities, natural justice or avoidance of abuse of law. Reference can be made to cases relating to product design, IP licensing, geo-blocking, network neutrality, privacy concerns or fiscal justice. This volume explores how fairness may guide competition enforcement, what its significance may be in explaining recent trends and actual outcomes, and what implications can be observed or expected by relying on a fairness standard in the design of substantive principles. Associating lawyers and economists, practitioners and academics, it discusses the boundaries of fairness in a world where the rationality of markets has been profoundly shaken by recent crises.

Fairness in EU Competition Policy : Significance and Implications

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Conference of the Global Competition Law Center.
This volume discusses what is the core objective - the ultima ratio - of EU competition policy against the background of a profound crisis of capitalism.

Fairness in EU competition policy : significance and implications ; an inquiry into the soul and spirit of competition enforcement in Europe

The transformations induced by the process of "modernisation", including in its substantive dimension, as well as recent judgments by the EU Courts, have left many lawyers and economists wary as to the standards actually governing findings of antitrust infringement under EU competition law, thereby affecting their ability to advise businesses effectively on the design of their commercial practices. While not ignoring institutional constraints, this volume revisits the notion of restriction of competition in the framework of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU with a view to taking stock of recent developments, to identifying common trends and to informing the application of core EU antitrust principles in current market contexts. Associating lawyers and economists, practitioners and academics, it seeks both to revisit long-standing theories of harm to competition and to explore novel forms of antitrust concerns.

The Notion of Restriction of Competition - Revisiting the Foundations of Antitrust Enforcement in Europe

This volume contains written accounts of a number of contributions to the 12th GCLC Annual Conference dedicated to "Dynamic Markets and Dynamic Enforcement : which competition policy for a world in flux ?", held in Brussels on 26-27 January 2017. Like the conference, this volume explores the existence of a connection between : (I) technological changes ("digitization"); (II) transformations in market dynamics and business strategies ; (III) challenges to and evolutions in the application of competition principles ; and (IV) innovations in enforcement strategies, with possible second-order effects of these novel enforcement strategies on the conduct of proceedings and decisional outcomes. Structured in two parts, this volume discusses successively the interactions between the expansion of dynamic markets and the application of substantive competition principles, on the one hand, and the design of enforcement practices, on the other hand. Hence, together with conceptual reflections on the state of EU competition law enforcement in the new digital ecosystem, the contributions included in this volume discuss topics such as the relationship between competition and innovation, the specificities of multi-sided markets, how big data may affect market power, the benefits and limitations of the settlement and commitment procedures, due process issues related to the involvement of third-parties in competition enforcement, as well as the role of judicial review in dynamic enforcement contexts.

Dynamic Markets and Dynamic Enforcement - The impact of the digital revolution and globalisation on competition law enforcement in Europe

Un dictionnaire juridique impertinent illustré.

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