Seit der Deregulierung des deutschen Strommarktes im Jahre 1998 werden die Netznutzungsentgelte durch Verhandlungen zwischen den Energieerzeugern und den industriellen Nutzern festgelegt. Da die Stromnetze als nicht-bestreitbare natürliche Monopolisten anzusehen sind, können die Netzbetreiber...

In the course of the liberalization of European energy markets, the German government opted - diverging from all other European countries - for Negotiated Third-Party Access. In this article we analyze if, theoretically, this institutional regime can be superior to regulation. We review...

Despite the scepticism raised by the German Monopoly Commission our analysis shows that the revised theory of contestable markets can be applied to the telecommunications market better than expected. The original contestable market theory implied three assumptions necessary to be satisfied to...

The EU electricity directive (96/92/EC) established the right of the member states to choose between Regulated and Negotiated Third Party Access (RTPA and NTPA). The interest group theory is able to explain whether the introduction of NTPA in Germany had been an interest group equilibrium under...

According to the European Directive on the sale of consumer goods, the German state must change the law for contracts between private buyers and commercial firms until end of year. In cases of defects sellers are liable for two years; for six months after delivering lack proving need no longer...

In 2004, European competition law had been faced with considerable changes due to the introduction of the new Council Regulation No. 1/2003. One of the major renewals was the replacement of the centralized notification system for inter-company cooperations in favor of a so-called legal exemption...