CoRe - European Competition and Regulatory Law Review

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The search returned 3 results.

Francesco Rizzuto

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 3 (2019), Issue 2, Page 80 - 99

Regulation 1/2003 left it to the Member States to determine the investigative and procedural powers of national competition authorities (NCAs). As a consequence, the enforcement of EU competition law in the Member States has not developed uniformly. Directive 2019/1 puts in place obligations on the Member States to harmonise the status and powers of NCAs in order to create a more uniform competition law single market regulatory space. In short, it aims to establish a level competition law enforcement field relating to investigative and fining powers, resources and independence, leniency, and rules governing mutual assistance between NCAs in the context of the operation of the European Competition Network. Many of the provisions are either closely aligned or indeed replicate the investigative and decision-making powers granted to the Commission under Regulation 1/2003 and the institutional resources and autonomy of national regulatory bodies established under EU sectoral legislation. This Directive in combination with the Private Damages Directive constitutes a significant push towards the federalisation of EU competition law enforcement in line with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Keywords: European Competition Network, ECN Plus Directive, National Competition Authorities

András Tóth

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 2 (2018), Issue 4, Page 258 - 270

This article provides a practical overview of the most recent and interesting developments arising from the national enforcement of EU competition law. It is not only the preliminary rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union that highlight interesting competition cases taking place at national level. For example, as will be discussed in this article, other important developments such as the recognition of compliance programmes and the first pricing algorithm case also occurred at national level. It appears that national competition authorities (NCAs) are more opened to ensure consistency between competition and other policies, such as the protection of personal data (eg the Facebook case in Germany) and the promotion of small and medium sized enterprises. NCAs can more rapidly adapt to the changing competition policy context, as can be seen, for example, in their treatment of mergers involving targets not possessing high enough turnover but having significant market potential. The ECN+ Directive provides NCAs with a minimum common tool-kit and effective enforcement powers for the implementation of EU antitrust rules in many important areas. However, there are still significant areas (eg regarding the admissibility of criminal evidence and multiple filings) where further improvements would be desirable in the future. Keywords: Data Driven Economy, Multiple Merger Filing, Admissability of Criminal Evidences, European Competition Network (ECN), Cross-Border Enforcement of Competition Fines

Gabriele Carovano

European Competition and Regulatory Law Review, Volume 2 (2018), Issue 3, Page 166 - 186

It is the overriding belief that EU competition rules should be applied uniformly, but reality shows that this is not the case. Moreover, the so-called ‘Digital Revolution’ has intensified the risk of non-homogeneous results by raising the number of multinational players, cross-border cases, and new competition issues needing a solution. This article argues that enhancing uniformity should not necessarily mean the eradication of diversity. Uniformity should instead be the result of a process able to canalise diversity. Hence, space within the system should be created where diversity can be utilised to produce better quality policies and avoid conflicting results. The article then suggests how this diversity should be co-ordinated within the European Competition Network (ECN) where the National Competition Authorities (NCAs) and the Commission share policy solutions and ideas. In particular, the article will suggest how the ECN should be modified to be able to balance the unbalanced, to transform externalities into internalities. NCAs should not only act in defence of their National interests or consumers, but should pursue one single goal: the protection of the European interests and consumers. ‘Un pour tous, tous pour un’. Keywords: European Competition Network, ECN Plus Directive, Consistency, Cooperation, Digital Single Market, National Competition Authority

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