On 1 September 2006, the European Commission published new Guidelines on the method it will use when setting fines for undertakings that have infringed the competition rules laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty. This paper discusses the questions what the purpose is of guidelines,...

Based on a sample of 64 cartels convicted by the European Commission from 1975 to 2009 and a methodology allowing to estimate restitution and dissuasive fines to be imposed on cartels from microeconomic variables on a case by case basis, this paper compares the level of fines actually inflicted...

The Department of Justice ("DOJ") monopoly report is enormously disappointing for a number of reasons. The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") was wise to participate in this important project, but equally wise to distance itself from the final work product. The final report represents a serious...

A price squeeze occurs when a vertically integrated firm "squeezes' a rival's margins between a high wholesale price for an essential input sold to the rival, and a low output price to consumers for whom the two firms compete. Price squeezes have been a recognized but controversial antitrust...

Nowadays, commitments decisions of the competition authorities are, most of the time, preceded by a consultation of third parties. These "market tests" have become a central step of the antitrust procedure and merger control. The authors of this Tendances present their experience in using this...

The evolution of competition law has traditionally been driven by the US and EU systems. Over the years, the EU system has emerged as a primary model of antitrust enforcement. However, in the coming years, we will likely experience a gradual shift from a bipolar scenario to a multi-polar one,...

Proponents of a ‘more economic approach’ (MEA) to EU competition law criticise the case law on abuse of dominance as overly form-based – i.e. as being built on categorizations rather than case-specific assessments of actual competitive effects. While the Commission has largely accepted...

The debate on the regulation of minority shareholdings as a type of “structural link” between competing undertakings is not a new one in the sphere of EU competition law. As a matter of policy, the incomplete and rather divisive treatment of minority shareholdings under the current EU merger...