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The search returned 10 results.

Regulating Connectivity of Multimodal Digital Mobility Services journal article

Christian Koenig, Carlos Deniz Cesarano

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 7 (2023), Issue 2, Page 99 - 111

Multimodal Digital Mobility Services (MDMS) increase the attractiveness of the public mobility sector and thereby contribute to sustainable, demand-oriented and climate-friendly passenger transport. However, MDMS are currently deployed in a fragmented manner, lacking a proper legal and market framework to develop more successfully and to provide a full range of offers across the EU. The mobility sector is characterised by market power asymmetries and vertical integration, which are obstacles to the deployment of MDMS. These obstacles must be overcome by a clear European legal framework providing adequate regulatory instruments in order to create a level playing field that enables effective competition in the distribution markets. When shaping this legal framework within the MDMS-Initiative of the European Commission, existing legislation from other regulated sectors can be considered as legislative references. Keywords: multimodal digital mobility services; distribution markets; data access; unbundling; distribution commission



Dawn Raids and Their Effect on the Stock Market journal article

Seppe Maes, Caroline Buts, Marc Jegers

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 7 (2023), Issue 3, Page 145 - 153

Cartel investigations and subsequent Commission decisions can negatively impact a company’s reputation and stock market value. Using an event study methodology, this paper quantifies the effect of a Commission decision on the market value of companies involved and investigates whether the fact that a dawn raid took place has an additional effect on the impact of the subsequent decision. The findings are based on an exhaustive recent sample of 373 observations of listed firms involved in cartel cases between 2001 and 2022. We conclude that a dawn raid has a clear negative effect of -2.04% on a firm’s stock price in the anticipation period prior to a decision. We attribute this to the fact that a dawn raid generates media coverage, bringing more attention to the case and making it widely known to investors. An anticipation effect is absent in cartels where no dawn raid took place, suggesting that a dawn raid entails a more prolonged and more negative effect on stock prices. Keywords: antitrust; cartel; dawn raid; European Commission; event study




Price Signalling in Ireland: journal article

Leading the Way?

Paul K Gorecki

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 6 (2022), Issue 4, Page 294 - 305

In 2022 Ireland made two important contributions to the debate over price signalling: (i) the publication of the National Competition Agency’s (NCAs) extensive investigation into alleged anticompetitive price signalling in private motor insurance (PMI); and (ii) the enactment of legislation that makes ‘the sharing of future information on prices …’ a specific presumed by object offence. The evidence does not support the NCA’s conclusion that the public PMI premium increase announcements by five insurers, a broker and a broker representative body were either a by object or a by effect breach of competition law. There are solid grounds for following the European Union’s existing open-ended approach to adding by object breaches through the development of case law, rather than legislating specific new by object offences. The sharing of information can, depending on the circumstances, be anticompetitive or procompetitive. It is thus inappropriate to characterise sharing of information as a by object offence, without an appropriate definition and guidance. This is not to imply that the competition in the PMI market in Ireland cannot be improved, as the European Commission’s acceptance in 2022 of binding commitments from the insurers trade association easing access to a data sharing platform so as to facilitate entry demonstrates. Keywords: private motor insurance, Competition Act 2002, Competition (Amendment) Act 2022, concerted practice, tacit collusion, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, price signalling.



After 19 Years of Complete Oblivion, Are Interim Measures the European Commission’s New Panacea to Enforce Article 102 TFEU in the Digital Age? journal article

Richard Masquelier

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 5 (2021), Issue 1, Page 24 - 35

Over the past few years, fast-moving markets have brought major concerns to competition law in the digital age: speedy solutions are needed to efficiently address situations in which companies become monopolistic after the market has tipped. One existing legal instrument emerged as a solid and plausible solution: the interim measures to prevent harm to competition while an investigation is on-going. The starting point of this paper finds its roots in the Commission’s decision to impose interim measures on Broadcom in 2019, after almost two decades of complete oblivion of this instrument. Two questions arise from this sudden awakening: why was it neglected by the Commission and should it be overhauled? This article delves back into the relevant case law and legislation to critically ascertain the qualities and flaws of interim measures in order to explain their possible revival. Through their respective application of the tool, as well as their variable desire to impose interim measures, national competition authorities have also shed an interesting light on this topic. Finally, it remains to be seen whether the recent Commission proposals for a Digital Market Act (DMA), which aims at preventing abusive conduct by digital gatekeepers with upfront obligations, will leave much space for such interim measures in the future. Keywords: interim measures; remedies; Article 102 TFEU; procedure; European Commission


PZU Życie: National Competition Law Is Alive and Kicking Thanks to the Threefold Test for Idem (C-617/17 Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń na Życie) journal article

Francesco Rizzuto, Monika Ewa Lynch

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 4 (2020), Issue 3, Page 236 - 242

Case C-617/17 Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń na Życie S.A. v Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów, Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (Fourth Chamber) of 3 April 2019 The Court of Justice confirms the continued importance of national competition law as a distinct legal interest to protect. The infringing undertakings can face distinct penalties for the same infringement if an NCA can show that the harm caused to national and EU markets is distinct in its temporal and jurisdictional effects.


The Legal Effects of EU Competition Soft Law in the Decisions of National Competition Authorities: journal article

The Case of the Bundeskartellamt

Leander Stähler, Mariolina Eliantonio

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 4 (2020), Issue 4, Page 273 - 288

Soft law issued by the European Commission plays an important role in the area of EU competition law. Focusing on the legal effect of competition soft law as applied by Germany’s national competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, this contribution analyses how the authority pursues interpretational and decisional objectives through references to competition soft law. This contribution quantifies the references made to soft law and categorises these references on the basis of the involvement of other sources of law in an individual reference. It is shown that the Bundeskartellamt is comfortable making reference to competition soft law as the sole legal basis for certain parts of many decisions, ascribing to competition soft law a strong legal effect in several instances. Keywords: EU soft law; enforcement; Bundeskartellamt; NCAs; EU Commission

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