Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2020 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: 2,2, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg (Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften), language: English, abstract: This doctoral thesis examines how European merger control law is applied to the energy sector and to which extent its application may facilitate the liberalisation of the electricity, natural gas and petroleum industries so that only those concentrations will be cleared that honour the principles of the liberalisation directives. In 2007, the Commission emphasized that a real internal European energy market is essential to meet Europe’s three energy objectives. These were for example competitiveness to cut costs for citizens and undertakings to foster energy efficiency and investment, sustainability including emissions trading, and security of supply with high standards of public service obligations. The EU issued three pre-liberalisation directives since the 1990s. Dissatisfied with the existing monopolistic structures, in Germany through demarcation and exclusive concession agreements for the supply of electricity and natural gas, which were until 1998 exempted from the cartel prohibition provision, and the prevalence of exclusive rights on the energy markets, the Commission triggered infringement proceedings against four Member States. The CJEU confirmed that the Commission has the power to abolish monopoly rights under certain circumstances and the rulings had the effect of convincing the member states to enter into negotiations for an opening up of energy markets owing to the internal market energy liberalization directives 1996 / 1998 / 2003 / 2009 / 2019. The 2nd liberalisation package of 2003 brought a widening of market opening and acceleration of pace of market opening to a greater number of eligible customers and an increase in the provisions on management and legal unbundling. The 3rd energy package of 2009 addressed ownership unbundling of key-infrastructure ownership and energy wholesale and retail supply consisting of three regulations and two directives. The 4th liberalization package inter alia consists of a new IEMD2019 and IGMD2019 and addresses energy efficiency and rules on good governance in the Energy Union. A brief analysis of the economic implications of concentrations is followed by an assessment of the evolution of European merger control law since 1989, 1997 and 2004. Then, the theoretical findings are contrasted to the results of recent merger proceedings in the energy sector.

This book presents the first in-depth analysis of the export of the EU electricity acquis, through the imposition of an EU-type regional electricity market (REM) in SEE within the enlargement process. Among other germane issues, the author discusses the following: the suitability of the European model of electricity markets’ liberalization for economies in transition; the use of the Public Services Obligations (PSO) to address the impact of electricity markets liberalization; the use of regulated prices and measures for granting priority rights for cross-border capacity allocation as PSOs; the Court of Justice judgement in Federutility on the sustainability of states’ protection of their different types of customers, including the large businesses; the Energy Community as a step towards a Pan-European Energy Community; the effect of simultaneous national electricity markets liberalization and cross-border regional integration of national electricity markets; and, the interplay between liberalization policy and reforms and the regulatory tools available to address their impact on provision of public services. The author’s proposed rethinking of the public services obligation offers new views on using this tool more effectively and proposes possibilities for its practical implementation through measures such as energy efficiency, allocation of interconnectors’ capacity, transparency, addressing the affordability issue and the protection of vulnerable customers. The book is remarkable for its clear analysis of the policy lessons arising from the export of the idea of liberalized energy markets, and will be welcomed by practitioners, officials, academics and others in energy law and policy for its informative and forward-looking overview of the national and cross-border reforms in the Energy Community framework.

In the course of energy liberalisation, electricity and natural gas contracts have been separated from physical delivery, and these contracts are now traded as commodities in multilateral trading facilities. Although designed to render energy trading standardised and efficient, this system raises serious questions as to whether existing regulatory and antitrust provisions are sufficient to address market abuses that cause imbalances in demand and supply. The European Union’s (EU’s) Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT), adopted to combat such market manipulation, is still lacking in significant case law to bolster its effectiveness. Addressing this gap, this invaluable book provides the first in-depth analysis of market manipulation in the energy sector, offering a deeply informed understanding of the new anti-manipulation rules and their implementation and enforcement. Focusing on practices that perpetrators employ to manipulate electricity and natural gas markets and the applicability of anti-manipulation rules to combat such practices, the analysis examines such issues and topics as the following: – factors and circumstances that determine when and what market misconduct can be subject to enforcement; – the European Commission’s criteria to determine whether a particular market is susceptible to regulation; – jurisdiction of REMIT and the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) with respect to the prohibitions of insider trading in financial wholesale energy markets; – to what extent anti-manipulation rules and EU competition law may be applied concurrently; and – types of physical and financial instruments that market participants have employed in devising their manipulative schemes. Because market manipulation is rather new in the EU context but has been prohibited and prosecuted under US law for over a century, much of the case law analysis is from the United States and greatly clarifies how anti-manipulation rules may be enforced. A concluding chapter offers policy recommendations to mitigate legal uncertainties arising from REMIT. Energy market participants, such as energy producers, wholesale suppliers, traders, transmission system operators and their counsel, and legal practitioners in the field will welcome this book’s extensive legal analysis and its clear demarcation of the objectives that REMIT seeks to accomplish with respect to energy market liberalisation.

In this important book, notable European experts in the energy field provide valuable perspectives on the principal issues raised by the liberalisation of the electricity and natural gas markets in the EU. Lawyers, business people, regulators, and policymakers who deal with matters and issues in the energy, natural resources, and environmental fields will find the details and insights presented here of great value.

The European Commission (the "Commission") has been, for over a decade, in the midst of creating well-functioning competitive markets for gas and electricity. Given the policies of economic protectionism adopted by certain Member States, the slow pace of market reforms and the resulting signs of weakness of energy regulation, the Commission has been determined to apply vigorously its competition powers to enhance liberalisation, support restructuring and open energy markets. The frenetic level of merger activity has prompted the Commission to review over 100 transactions making merger control one of the core areas of competition enforcement. The research question is: has merger control made a contribution to energy liberalisation or energy policy? The issue of whether a competitive internal market can be built on the basis of energy regulation (existing or forthcoming) or requires the assistance of competition law, including merger control, has been a central one for some time. The general purpose of this thesis is to establish if the European Community Merger Regulation (the "ECMR") gives the Commission any scope to advance its energy policy agenda and help drive the debate. This thesis argues that merger control has made a significant contribution to energy liberalisation without having taken the place of regulation. The Commission has legal grounds and policy incentives to take the opportunity of the merger review process to ensure the introduction of competition and the acceleration of market integration.

Co-written by an expert lawyer and economist, this book provides a thorough guide to the economic theory behind the regulation of mergers. The economic theory is then used to analyse the current state of European competition law, and test the success of the European Commission's search for a 'more economic approach' to merger regulation.