Focusing on collusive behavior, this chapter outlines the complexity associated with both the ex ante design of antitrust compliance programs and the ex post assessment of their impact. Following an interdisciplinary review of relevant literature, the chapter provides a structured cost–benefit...

A bonus on the fine in response to the defendant running a corporate compliance program is superfluous because working leniency programs provide all the incentives necessary to implement efficient compliance. Others opposed to such a bonus argue that unreduced fines are sufficient to incentivize...

The results of MOFCOM's review in Wal-Mart’s acquisition of control of Yihaodian is a reminder that non-competition factors play significant roles in AML merger control. MOFCOM’s decision in Wal-Mart/Yihaodian may be a striking "throw back" to the Coca-Cola/Huiyuan and Mitsubishi...

Cartel detection has been an important part of antitrust scholarship and policy for some time. Most of the development of the literature on cartel detection has focused at the firm level. This should not be surprising since industrial organization studies firms and markets. Antitrust scholarship...

Should companies that have antitrust compliance programmes be granted a reduction in the amount of fines or even immunity from fines when they are found to have committed antitrust infringements? Should the absence of a compliance programme constitute an aggravating factor leading to higher...

In the inaugural issue of the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, Mr. Wils published an article discussing the relationship between compliance programmes and competition law enforcement in the EU. This paper questions some aspects of Mr. Wils' analysis of compliance programmes, as well as some of...

The European Commission is charged with implementing the Digital Markets Act (DMA) which will impose a list of 22 do and don't to Big Tech platforms in March 2024. Based on economic and legal reasoning, this paper asks how the Commission can fulfil this challenging task effectively. The paper...

One of the prime issues in the antitrust and competition law1 compliance field is how to deal with the risk of collusive or cartel behavior which involves willful violations of the law. In the past much of antitrust compliance work has focused on training, perhaps accompanied by an antitrust...

This chapter describes the status quo of criminal enforcement in selected Member States of the European Union and discusses the desirability of criminal enforcement of competition law from a policy perspective. It concludes that at least in Germany the introduction of a criminal offence for...

The ministerial proposal for a 10th amendment of the German competition law particularly addresses abuse control and seeks to tighten this pillar of competition policy against the background of the challenges from the digital economy. Next to extending the classic policy instruments of abuse...