Competition Law and the Enforcement of Article 102

With incisive and thought-provoking contributions from both leading academics and practitioners, this book addresses in detail the major areas in relation to the Commission Guidance Paper on Applying Article 82 of the EC Treaty (now Article 102). The paper has been at the centre of much of the recent debate on antitrust policy in Europe and has generated significant controversy and intense debate. The authors contend that the guidance from the Commission is on the one hand entirely justifiable in its focus on consumer harm in identifying what constitutes an abuse, but that on the other is not consistent enough in its message, nor indeed does it offer enough structural guidance on the practical application of the approach. The book addresses all of these concerns, considers the reform of article 102, and identifies the challenges inherent in its enforcement, looking for instance at enforcement in certain sectors, such as the high tech sector. The book considers recent seminal antitrust cases such as the Microsoft case to illuminate and better understand abuse of dominance. It brings a line of clarity to often contradictory messages and in so doing provides invaluable practical guidance to enforcers and practitioners alike. The editors combine the insight of a leading international economist and an experienced antitrust scholar, and the contributions are linked by a common emphasis on a strong economic approach to antitrust enforcement.

1 - Toward an Economic Approach to Article 102
2 - Does the Guidance Paper on Article 102 Matter?
3 - Some outstanding issues from the European Commission's Guidance on Article 102: Not-so-faint echoes of Ordoliberalism
4 - Optimal Enforcement and Decision Structures for Competition Policy: Economic Considerations
5 - IP Rights in the EU-Microsoft Saga
6 - Judicial Review in Article 102
7 - The assessment of efficiencies under Article 102 and the Commission's Guidance Paper
8 - Will Efficiencies Play an Increasingly Important Role in the Assessment of Conduct Under Article 102?
9 - Is there a Gap in the Enforcement of Article 102?
10 - Is the availability of 'appropriate' remedies a limit to competition law liability under Article 102?
11 - Damages for exclusionary practices: a primer

Federico Etro is Professor of Economics at the the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He also teaches Competition Policy for the Athens University of Economics and Business (at Cresse). He has published several articles in leading international journals such as International Economic Review, European Economic Review, American Economic Review, Canadian Journal of Economics, and European Competition Journal. He has been working as a consulgtant for the public and private sectors, for the Ministry of Economy of Italy (Rome) during the Berlusconi Government, for the Task Force on Competition of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris), and for international corporations as Director of ECG, a small company focused on consulting on innovation and antitrust issues. He is President of the International Thinktank on Innovation and Competition Dr Ioannis Kokkoris is a Reader at the University of Reading in the UK and a Visiting Professor at Bocconi University in Italy. Prior to that he was a Principal Case Officer at the Office of Fair Trading in the UK and an International Consultant on Competition policy for the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe. He has published more than 10 books and 40 articles on competition law, regulation as well as corporate law. Dr Kokkoris' background combines both law and economics. He holds a BA in Economics (Essex, UK) and an MPhil in Economics (Cambridge, UK), as well as an LLM (with distinction Warwick, UK) and a PhD in Competition Law (King's College London, UK) and has conducted research at Harvard Law School. He is Vice Chairman of the Institute of Studies in Competition Law and Policy and Vice President of the International Thinktank on Innovation and Research.