Despite its economic significance, competition law still remains fragmented, lacking an international framework allowing for dispute settlement. This, together with the growing importance of non-free-market economies in world trade require us to re-consider and re-evaluate the possibilities of...

This paper looks at the main source of procedural delay in EC merger cases, the suspension of investigations. Although the ECMR refers to the suspension of investigations as an exceptional instrument, it is used in a high proportion of cases. As the ECMR does not set a time limit for suspension,...

To prevent possible abuse of market power in the future an antitrust agency can force merging firms to divest some of their assets. The divested assets can be sold via auction either to existing competitors or to a new entrant. Divesture of assets extends the range of parameters when a merger...

This paper provides an assessment of EC merger policy from three perspectives. First, it places the evolution of merger policy alongside the evolution of economic ideas in relation to competition and industrial organisation. Second, it highlights recent developments in the practical economic...

This paper incorporates the economic theory of organizations into the framework of public law enforcement, and characterizes the dual-coalition structure of cartel organization that allows us to highlight the strategic interactions between cartel participants under different antitrust policies....

This paper analyses the raison d'ecirc;tre of the current initiative for the federal policy change in the US regarding the issues of passing-on defense and indirect purchaser standing in order to draw policy lessons for the EC in the light of the Commission's Green Paper on private enforcement of...

Although the 1996 quot;Notice on the Non-imposition or Reduction of Fines in Cartel Casesquot; has been criticised by academics as lacking clarity and certainty, it has been described in European Commission literature as an quot;indisputable successquot; and as having played an quot;instrumental...

Electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) allow networks of buyers and sellers to conduct business online and to exchange information more efficiently using Internet technology. Despite the benefits that e-marketplaces potentially afford firms, concerns have been raised that these markets may...

This paper questions whether discrimination between consumers by a dominant undertaking can and should constitute an abuse of a dominant position under Article 82EC. By finding that it can, the paper challenges the traditional interpretation of the discrimination ban under that provision, namely...

In the wake of recent convergence initiatives, many countries now adopt a competition-based approach to merger control assessment. Given the emphasis that is placed on competition criteria in these assessments, the influence of wider ‘public interest’ criteria has become increasingly...