The course offers an introduction to EU antitrust law, covering the substantive aspects, the enforcement mechanisms and the institutional interplay between EU and national jurisdictions. It includes an overview of the basic notions and tools of economic analysis that are essential to understand the grounds and reasons of the rules and their application. The course also aims at providing students with knowledge of rules and case law within the context of the broader policy issues at stake.
The substantive contents will cover the three main areas of restrictive agreements, abuses of dominant position and merger control, and will be illustrated and discussed through the analysis of cases. Specific attention will be devoted to certain business conducts (such as cartels, predatory practices, access to essential facilities) and to emerging phenomena such as big data (algorithms and tacit collusion; price discrimination; abuses in data collection), e-commerce and platforms (market power and market definition in two- sided markets).
The main contents of the course are the following
Introduction: structure of the rules, role of economics, institutions and enforcement mechanisms
Basic legal concepts (“undertaking”, “restriction of competition”, “dominance”, “abuse”)
Basic economic concepts (competition and monopoly, market power, consumer welfare)
The goals of competition law; competition models and economic efficiency; “non-economic” goals
Restrictive agreements (art. 101.1 TFUE, cartels, concerted practices, exchange of information amongst competitors)
Art. 101.3 - Cooperation amongst competitors; vertical agreements (elements)
Dominance (art. 102 TFUE, market definition, notion of dominant position)
Abuse of dominance (categories of exclusionary and exploitative abuses)
Merger control (EU merger regulation, notion of concentration and control, procedural elements, substantive criteria)
Enforcement (Public vs Private enforcement; administrative fines and deterrence; the European Damages Directive)
Bibliography
Lectures will be based on specific reading materials indicated prior to each class.
Teaching methods
Class attendance is mandatory. Suggested readings and didactic materials for each class will be made available in advance, on the web page of the course (ARIEL). Students are advised to read the assigned materials before classes, and will be required to actively participate in the discussion and illustration of rules, decisions, and case studies. A moot court exercise will be carried out during the course.
- Docente titolare: Luca Toffoletti