Competing Competition Laws: What the United States Can Learn From the European Union
As antitrust goes through a resurgence in the United States with a revived appeal to Justice Louis Brandeis, it is worth looking across the ocean to see what can be learned from competition law and policy in the European Union. Professor Pablo Ibáñez Colomo’s The New EU Competition Law provides a deep dive with much refreshing insight into the directions competition law can and should take. Professor Ibáñez Colomo is with the London School of Economics and Ordinary Member of the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal. His book is a masterwork for scholars and students of competition law and theory. It is an understatement to say I like it lots, but I certainly do and much more.
What makes EU Competition Law new is the implementation of Regulation 1/2003 which gives the European Commission, the executive arm of the Union, authority to coordinate with national competition authorities to share documents and information, paper and digital, to pursue claims of anticompetitive activities within the European market. This new development has facilitated several competition law decisions from the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the judicial arm of the Union. One important authority granted under Reg 1/2003 is the power to impose fines on companies found to be in violation of competition law. The new prong supplements traditional competition law established under sections 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Section 101 outlaws agreements and anticompetitive practices (analogous to Section One of the Sherman Act). Section 102 outlaws abusive behavior by companies with a dominant position (analogous to Section Two of the Sherman Act). Continue reading "Competing Competition Laws: What the United States Can Learn From the European Union"
