The role of the EU competition law rules in shaping the EU Internal Market can hardly be overstated. The EU substantive rules dealing with cartels, abuse of dominance and State aid have ensured, in the past decades, a much desired unity of the law applied in the diverse European markets. Yet, much of the success of the EU competition law provisions depends on its practical enforcement. The proliferation of competition law enforcement, especially since 2004, stands testimony in this respect. However, this has not come without challenges. In this context, this book aims to critically discuss certain key elements relating to the domestic enforcement of the said rules, in order to place the discussion of further boosting this enforcement exercise in the correct context. This book aims, in this respect, to find an answer to the following question: to what extent would boosting the domestic enforcement of the EU competition law rules aid the ambition of more forceful, better targeted and more resource-efficient EU competition law enforcement in the Internal Market? Topics such as the following are discussed in the contributions included in this book: the sufficiency of the enforcement toolbox of national competition authorities, the interaction between fundamental rights and competition law, and the duties of domestic bodies in this context.

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition provides an enhanced understanding of EU competition law, exploring significant substantive and enforcement issues relating to antitrust, merger control, the Digital Markets Act and state aid law. While considering well-established doctrines and landmark judgements, the textbook also addresses recent developments such as digitalisation, sustainability and globalisation, and how these issues will influence future inquiry into competition law. This incisive textbook is an invaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students and scholars of competition and European law. It is additionally beneficial for researchers and practitioners of comparative competition law; in particular, it is a useful guide for in-house company training courses. Key Features: New discussions on the Digital Markets Act and the Foreign Subsidies Regulation Critical assessment of the impact of recent developments such as sustainability and globalisation on competition law Analysis of the interplay between domestic and European competition law through discussion of national competition rules and frameworks Evaluation of the role of enforcement in competition law

It is the thesis of this fascinating and highly instructive book on competition law that an examination of one landmark case, scenario, or 'saga' each from a range of legal systems leads to a thorough understanding of the issues informing and arising from competition policy, law, and legal practice. To that end, leading scholars from 14 jurisdictions enhance their academic authority and rigour with an element of panache to describe a particularly salient case in each of their countries, commenting in depth on the contribution of the case to the development of their particular competition law culture and to the case’s enduring significance for competition law and its enforcement from a global perspective. There are chapters for each of thirteen countries as well as the European Union, preceded by an informative and thoughtful introduction. For each landmark case selected, the legislative background, the case facts, and the legal ruling and reasoning are all minutely described, along with commentary, critique, and assessment of the case’s impact and contemporary significance. The cases cover vast swathes of the competition law territory in terms of substance and procedure, dealing with cartels, abuse of dominance, mergers, and vertical restraints, and involving diverse forms of public and private enforcement processes. Aspects covered include the following: the public interest test; bid-rigging in public procurement; the entitlement of dominant companies to compete on a level footing with other companies; the hard-to-draw line between legitimate competition and unlawful monopolizing conduct; the dangers of eclectic borrowing in the development and interpretation of competition law rules; horizontal price-fixing collusion ‘hub and spoke’ cartels; resale price maintenance agreements and the U.S. ‘rule of reason’; the increasing use of private enforcement and the right for victims of a competition law infringement to seek compensation; merger control in energy markets and the political use of merger review rules to benefit domestic firms; cooperation with criminal enforcement agencies and prosecutors; the role courts play in undertaking adequate legal supervision of competition authorities; leniency processes and obtaining access to ‘confidential’ whistleblowing documentation; imposition of administrative fines and other deterrence-based sanctions; and how the ‘consumer welfare’ standard is interpreted. More than a set of landmark case descriptions, this book, in which many chapters reflect upon recent and consider further future significant reforms, demonstrates that competition law and its enforcement processes form part of a chronological narrative, and that it is important to understand the broader legal, social, and economic context within which competition law and policy develop. This wider perspective will prove immeasurably valuable to the many practitioners, business people, jurists, and policy makers engaged in the shaping of competition law in any jurisdiction, and will moreover be essential reading for postgraduate students studying any aspects of comparative competition law enforcement.

Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK provides a focused guide to the main provisions and policies at issue in the EU and UK, including topics such as enforcement, abuse of dominance, anti-competitive agreements, cartels, mergers, and market investigations. The book’s contents are tailored to cover all major topics in competition law teaching, and the authors’ clear and accessible writing style offers an engaging and easy to follow overview of the subject for course use. The fifth edition provides a full update for this well-established title, presenting and contextualising the impact of key cases, as well as changes to enforcement practice, and at a legislative and institutional level. There are new, separate chapters in this edition on private enforcement and UK market investigations to reflect the increasing significance of these key areas of competition law practice. Competition Law and Policy in the EU and UK integrates useful pedagogical features to help clarify topics and reinforce important points: chapter overviews and summaries highlight the key points to take away from each chapter to structure student learning discussion questions facilitate self-testing and seminar discussions of the major issues covered in each chapter, to help reinforce understanding of these topics further reading lists additional resources in order to guide research and develop subject knowledge a new glossary provides succinct explanations of competition law terminology, ideal for those studying the topic for the first time Clear, focused and student-friendly, this title offers a comprehensive resource for students taking competition law courses, and is supported online by updates to the law offered on Angus MacCulloch’s blog, Who’s Competing (http://whoscompeting.wordpress.com/).

This book constitutes the final output of the COMP.EU.TER Project (Public and Private Enforcement of EU Competition Law in the Age of Big Data), cofunded by the Training of National Judges Programme of the European Union (GA HT.6149 SI2.858159). Over two years, the COMP.EU.TER Project provided training to national judges and apprentice judges on the enforcement of EU competition law in the digital era. Training activities were organized by the Universities of Turin, Milan and Genoa in the form of seminars, lectures and online materials made available on the project’s e-learning platform (www.compeuter.unito.it). In addition, the project benefitted from a wider network of associated partners (the Universities of Antwerp, Ferrara, Aberdeen, Rotterdam, Warsaw and Zaragoza) which contributed by providing materials for the COMP.EU.TER e-learning platform and promoting the training activities among the respective national judiciaries. On 30th November and 1st December 2023, the Final Conference of the COMP.EU.TER Project was held at the Palazzo di Giustizia in Milan, which houses both the Court of Milan and the Court of Appeal of Milan. Over two days, the speakers addressed a selected audience of national judges from over ten Member States, tackling the most relevant developments in the public and private enforcement of EU competition law in the context of digital markets. The aim of the COMP.EU.TER Project has been, primarily, to raise the awareness of national judges about the challenges posed by the application to the digital world of traditional competition law concepts developed in the “analogic” world. Not only do the big data revolution and the up-surging diffusion of data analytics facilitate the commission of existing antitrust violations, but they also originate new types of anti-competitive behaviours that could not be committed in the analogic world (e.g. algorithmic collusion, behavioural discrimination). In addi-tion, the structure and the dynamics of digital markets put traditional tools of competition law enforcement under strain, increasing the bur-den of both administrative authorities and courts. Against this backdrop, the COMP.EU.TER Project has sought to bet-ter prepare national judges for the task of enforcing EU competition law in digital markets, by helping them familiarise with the most recent legis-lation, case law and practice. The book shares this goal, and its primary targets are national judges dealing with competition law in the courts of the Member States. We hope that the book may guide them in this diffi-cult task, in a context where profound transformations in technology, market structure and regulatory landscape present the enforcers with unprecedented challenges. For similar reasons, we expect it to provide useful insights to legal practitioners and academics interested in understanding the way EU competition law is and will be applied to digital markets.

Competition Law and Policy in the EU --Article 101(1) --Article 101(3) --Market Definition --Cartels --Non-Covert Horizontal Cooperation --Vertical Agreements Affecting Distribution or Supply --Merger Control --Intellectual Property Rights --Article 102 --The Competition Rules and the Acts of Member States --Sectoral Regimes --Enforcement and Procedure --Fines for Substantive Infringements --The Enforcement of the Competition Rules by National Competition Authorities --Litigating Infringements in National Courts --State Aids.

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition provides an enhanced understanding of EU competition law, exploring significant substantive and enforcement issues relating to antitrust, merger control, the Digital Markets Act and state aid law. While considering well-established doctrines and landmark judgements, the textbook also addresses recent developments such as digitalisation, sustainability and globalisation, and how these issues will influence future inquiry into competition law.