The consensus is clear - climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Meeting this challenge requires a collaborative and inclusive response from all segments of society - including private businesses. What role then for competition law and policy? This important and timely book gathers academics, enforcers, economists, lawyers, and industry representatives to explore the applications and limitations of EU competition law in achieving environmental sustainability aims in line with the European Commission's Green Deal as well as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. They identify the challenges of integrating environmental considerations into competition analysis presented by the existing framework, whether through cooperation by businesses, practices by dominant companies, or consideration of sustainability efficiencies in merger assessments. Practical examples across various sectors are also provided, alongside agency views from different jurisdictions, to illustrate how competition policy can facilitate a sustainable economy.

Competition is present for almost every sector nowadays. Therefore, it is vital for companies to develop a set of strategies in order to survive in the competitive environment of a globalized world. This book discusses how and why not every strategy is appropriate for every sector. The volume offers a qualified and comprehensive analysis to determine effective competitive strategies taking into account the many different factors that affect company performance.

Based on the practical insights and experience gained in his professional work on foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries at the World Bank, and using the EU's competition framework as an example, Stephan J. Dreyhaupt analyses whether or not a multilateral system of investment rules can be economically and politically effective.

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.

Article 6 of the EC Treaty requires an integration of environmental protection requirements into the European Community's policies. As a result environmental concerns must also be integrated into Community competition law and policy. Taking Article 6 EC as a starting point, this book begins with the construction of a model of integration. This model requires that environmental concerns are awarded a role that will ultimately result in the internalisation of environmental concerns and therefore lead to a mutually reinforcing relation between competition and environmental protection. After an examination of Articles 81, 82, 86 and 87 of the EC Treaty, the useful effect doctrine (Article 10 in connection with 81 EC) and the Merger Regulation as well as the application of these competition rules in cases that involve environmental protection concerns, some conclusions are drawn with regard to the integration of environmental protection requirements and EC competition law. These conclusions are followed by a comparative legal research in which their validity is tested. On the basis of these findings it is concluded that the model of integration is being applied in parts of EC competition law. In those areas, competition policy towards environmental restrictions of competition actually increases the chances of a competition for the environment coming about. This, it is submitted, is an important step in the direction of achieving sustainable development. About the author: Hans Vedder (1974) graduated from the University of Groningen in 1997. From 1998 to 2001 he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Law of the University of Amsterdam. Since 2001 he is lecturer in European law at the University of Groningen. He has published several articles and chapters in books on various aspects of competition and environmental law.

Environmental Integration in Competition and Free-Movement Laws engages in a comprehensive analysis of the obligation of Article 11 TFEU (integration of environmental protection requirements) in the three core areas of EU internal market law: competition, state aid, and free movement. It develops a theoretical framework for integrating environmental and other policies and compares how environmental integration takes place within competition, state aid, and free movement law. In turn, it paves a way for a more transparent and consistent integration of environment protection in these three core areas of law. Structured in three parts, this volume (I) offers a detailed analysis of the historical development of environmental integration including discussions of the various intergovernmental conferences which led to a number of Treaty changes, shaping the obligation itself. (II) It investigates which provisions and concepts within competition law, state aid law, and the market freedoms can be interpreted in order to provide a clear demarcation of environmental protection and these areas of law. (III) It analyses how competition, state aid, and free movement law allow for a balancing of the environment against restrictions in cases of conflict.

The modern industrial states desperately need more competition in order to generate growth and employment. Although the European Union pushed its member states to open several sectors to competition, there is much left to be done. At the same time powerful interest groups try to avoid or to reduce competition on European labour markets, in the health systems, in the transport and energy sector, in public services, and in many other areas. This book shows that there is much to be gained from intensifying competition and that especially consumers would benefit. One task is to lay a sound basis for the application of competition. The other task is to implement and guarantee competition. The authors cover both issues.