In its Guidance Paper on Article 102 TFEU, the Commission established three conditions that in its view must normally be satisfied before a "refusal to deal" or "margin squeeze" may be considered contrary to Article 102 TFEU, mirroring those established by the European Court of Justice (the...

The Discussion Paper examines the regulation of the air transport sector from the perspective of competition law, focusing specifically on EU-US air transport relations. Emphasis is placed on the ongoing negotiations between Europe and the United States for the creation of a transatlantic open...

In the EU harmonisation of healthcare has long been elusive. Article 168 paragraph 7 TFEU even forms a sector-specific subsidiarity clause. Meanwhile the ECJ handed down a series of judgments concerning patients' rights to reimbursement for healthcare consumed in other Member States. An initial...

In December 2011 the European Commission updated its original SGEI package of 2005 in which it spelled out under which conditions public service compensation constituted aid but was compatible with the internal market. As such both versions of the Package complement the 2003 Altmark ruling of...

Whereas the EU's internal market rules govern market access and public intervention, its competition rules are concerned with the market conduct of private parties. When do the competition rules apply to healthcare? In principle the scope for application of the competition rules to the...

The stunning failure of banks put regulatory intervention high on the agenda of governments. Adequate risk monitoring, including by credit rating agencies, measurement and management have proven to be a daunting task, whereas regulation of innovative financial instruments has not brought about...

Water is an exhaustible natural resource. Access to clean, safe and affordable water must be managed nowadays not only to avoid any unnecessary use of water, but also allow for continuous supply of such an important factor of public well-being. In recent years, water-related activities acquired...

Services of general economic interest (SGEI) are a legal category in the EC Treaty that is designed to enable proportionate restrictions on the Treaty's market freedoms (including competition) in so far as necessary to attain legitimate public policy objectives defined (in the first instance) at...

The Treaty rules on free movement and competition are predicated on a distinction between state measures and measures of private undertakings that can be problematic in practice, as this distinction is often not clear cut. The first part of this paper examines the manner in which the European...