Non-competition interests in EU antitrust law : an empirical study of Article 101 TFEU

"This Book is the first to empirically examine the role of non-competition interests (public policy) in the enforcement of the EU's prohibition on anti-competitive agreements. Based on an original quantitative and qualitative database of over 3100 cases, it records all of the public enforcement actions of Article 101 TFEU taken by the Commission, EU Courts, and the national competition authorities and courts of five representative Member States (France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and the UK). The book does not only expose explicit tools in which non-competition interests played a role. It also sheds light on the "dark matter" of balancing, namely invisible forms of balancing triggered by the institutional and procedural setup of the competition enforcers. Moreover, it contributes to the empirical-legal study of various other aspects of EU competition law enforcement, such as its objectives, the more economic approach, decentralised enforcement, and the functioning and success of Regulation 1/2003."