This paper is a contribution to the 2nd edition of Craig and de Búrca, The Evolution of EU Law. It highlights key trends in EU law in the last ten to fifteen years, as regards the regulation of network industries and of services of general economic interest (SGEIs) more generally. Our central...

This paper contains the conclusions from the work of the Economic Impact Group (EIG), a part of the CoPECL Network of Excellence funded by the EU to prepare a Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). Part 1 revisits basic principles which are central to the work of the whole group. For one,...

The European institutions are currently debating the desirability of imposing restrictions on the way in which internet service providers (ISPs) in the EU can manage their networks and develop their offerings, under the broad heading of 'network neutrality'. In our opinion, so far, the need for...

Most of the draft CFR (DCFR) concerns contract law, yet in Book VI the DCFR deals with another major component of private law which could not be ignored in the work of the Economic Impact Group (EIG). What the DCFR accurately if dryly defines as "noncontractual liability arising out of damage...

Why do we conduct Ex ante Evaluation of Legislation or regulation (EEL)? In the light of economic theories, this paper investigates a series of distinct and sometimes competing rationales or purposes for EEL. They include the mainstream economic rationale, i.e. improving the quality of...

This paper reviews the recent proposal that SSOs amend their IPR policies to require SEP owners and willing licensees to resolve disputes over licensing terms, particularly FRAND royalty rates, using mandatory, binding baseball-style (or “final offer”) arbitration. We first consider the...

French Abstract: Quelle gouvernance pourrait mener à l'émergence d'un corpus réglementaire approprié pour les techniques d'édition du genome, comme CRISPR-Cas9, qui puisse protéger les individus tout en promouvant la recherche? Dans un premier temps, nous tentons de montrer que ce corpus...

Legislative initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic focus on giant digital platforms – the Digital Markets Act in the EU, platform bills before the US Congress. They are best viewed as an attempt to correct historical mistakes and restore some measure of competition to these markets. These...

Disruptive innovation, according to business literature, occurs when an innovative product is brought to a market, such as meets the basic requirements of the lower-end of an established value network and also offers added value outside of that value network. That product wins over consumers and...

Whilst there is widespread agreement in policy circles that fostering innovation should be a priority, there is far less consensus on what this entails and how to achieve this objective. This lack of consensus is echoed in the academic literature on innovation. In this paper, we seek to...