The European Competition Law Annual 2004 is ninth in a series of volumes following the annual workshops on EU Competition Law and Policy held at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate that took place at the ninth edition of the workshop (11-12 June 2004), which examined the relationship between competition law and the regulation of (liberal) professions. The (liberal) professions and the rules governing their functioning have become of interest for EC competition law enforcement since the early nineties, making the object of a series of Commission decisions and judgments of the European courts. The subject has gained in importance in the perspective of the recent decentralisation of EC antitrust enforcement. The regulation of (liberal) professions is also a matter of increasing concern from the perspective of freedom of services in the internal market. The workshop participants - a group of senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some Member States, reknown international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic, legal and political/institutional issues that arise in the relationship between competition law and the regulation of (liberal) professions.

This is the tenth in a series of volumes based on the annual workshops on EU Competition Law and Policy held at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate which examined the interaction between competition law and intellectual property law. The workshop participants - a group of senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some EC Member States, reknowned international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic and legal issues that arise in this particular area of application of the EC competition rules, under the following headings: 1) whether the characteristics of intellectual property products/markets justify special treatment under the competition rules; 2) a critical assessment of the Block Exemption Regulation and corresponding Guidelines recently adopted in this area of EC competition law enforcement; 3) the specific enforcement issues that arise in relation to patent pools and collecting societies; and 4) specific problems related to IP in the domains of merger control and application of Article 82 EC.

This is the twelfth in a series on EU Competition Law and Policy produced by the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the written contributions and transcripts in connection with a roundtable debate which examined the EU's enforcement policy as regards the abuse of a dominant position under Article 82 EC. The workshop participants included: senior enforcement officials and policy makers from the European Commission, from the national competition authorities of certain EU Member States and from the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission; and renowned international academics, legal practitioners and professional economists. In an intense, intimate environment, this group of experts debated a number of legal and economic issues structured according to three broad lines of discussion: 1) comparisons of the concept of monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act with that of abuse of dominance under Article 82 EC; 2) a reformed approach to exclusionary unilateral conduct; and 3) exploitative unilateral conduct and related remedies.

This volume contains papers presented at the 17th Annual EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop, organized by Philip Lowe and Mel Marquis and held at the European University Institute on 13-14 July 2012. From a variety of angles the book explores the themes of competition, regulation and certain public policies; their interactions; and, in some cases, their mutual tensions. The authors of the various chapters consider legal and economic issues relating to network industries, industrial, environmental and trade policies, and intellectual property and innovation policies, among others. Comparative views and the views of judges from different jurisdictions are provided, and techniques for mediating among different policy objectives and frameworks are discussed. Authors contributing to this book include: Rafael Allendesalazar, Robert D Anderson, Marco Boccaccio, Ginevra Bruzzone, Cristina Caffarra, Alexandre de Streel, Ian Forrester, Douglas Ginsburg, Geert Goeteyn, Calvin Goldman, Daniel Haar, Küllike Jürimäe, Suzanne Kingston, Lars Kjølbye, Paul Lugard, Mel Marquis, Veljko Milutinovic, Giorgio Monti, Anna Caroline Müller, Rosa Perna, Anthony Pygram, Philip Lowe, Pierre Régibeau and Jon Stern.

Drawing on the fundamental principles of EU competition law, this book comprehensively reassesses the authority and democratic legitimacy of self- and state regulation of liberal professions, and ultimately challenges the use of a diffuse public interest concept in professional regulation.

This is the eleventh in the series on EU Competition Law and Policy produced by the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute in Florence. The volume reproduces the materials of the roundtable debate which examined the enforcement of the prohibition on cartels. The workshop participants - senior representatives of the Commission and the national competition authorities of some EC Member States, renowned international academics and legal practitioners - discussed the economic and legal issues that arise in this particular area, including: 1) unearthing cartels: the evidence; 2) the institutional framework and 3) tools of enforcement.