Antitrust Compliance Programmes & Optimal Antitrust Enforcement : A Reply to Wouter Wils

In the inaugural issue of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, Mr. Wils published an article discussing the relationship between compliance programmes and competition law enforcement in the EU. This paper questions some aspects of Mr. Wils' analysis of compliance programmes, as well as some of its policy prescriptions. The core theme of Mr. Wils' article is that there are sound policy reasons why the European Commission and the US Department of Justice Antitrust Division do not, and should not, grant a reduction in the amount of fines imposed on companies that have a pre-existing compliance programme. The present paper disagrees with this view and explains why compliance programmes should be rewarded by competition authorities