The role of ‘freedom’ in EU competition law

Abstract

An initial reading of EU competition law jurisprudence and literature may suggest that there might be a competition-related freedom in the EU, expressed along the lines of 'freedom of competition' or 'freedom to compete'. If competition is to be protected as a 'freedom' rather than merely as a 'policy', what this freedom involves should be established. It is important to establish the role of 'freedom', since it has been argued that EU competition law is a product of or has been significantly influenced by 'ordoliberalism'. Under ordoliberalism, protecting the 'economic freedom' of market actors is the aim of competition policy. This paper examines the entire jurisprudence of the EU Courts to establish the role of 'freedom' in EU competition law as perceived by the EU Courts. This inquiry establishes whether ordoliberalism has so fundamentally influenced the jurisprudence that welfare-based objectives cannot be adopted as an/the objective of EU competition law. This is the first such comprehensive study regarding 'freedom' in EU competition law. The paper demonstrates that there is little quantitative or qualitative support for the ordoliberal argument when one considers the relevant jurisprudence. A quantitative analysis of the case-law and in particular the historical trend raises serious doubts concerning the validity of the conventional ordoliberal-influence thesis.

Ustalanie cen odsprzedaży towarów w prawie europejskim i amerykańskim. Studium prawnoporównawcze

“…dystrybutor, a po jakiej towar sprzedawany jest przez dostawcę samodzielnie lub konkurentom dystrybutora. Niemniej uzgodnienia tego rodzaju stanowią niewątpliwie pionowe porozumienia cenowe, a ich skutki rynkowe mogą być podobne do RPM 217 . Dotyczy to w szczególności podobieństwa skutków szerokiej klauzuli MFN do sposobu oddziaływania wiązki porozumień o ustaleniu, na tym samym poziomie, cen odsprzedaży towarów w relacjach z wieloma dystrybutorami.…”

Rethinking Competition Law within the European Economic Constitution

“…Clearly other influences can also be traced. In this debate, see, for example, Akman, 2014;Karagiannis, 2013, who argue that its influence has been exaggerated; and Bartalevich, 2016;Talbot, 2016; Warlouzet 2010 for the more nuanced view that ordo-liberalism has been influential, but that competition law has also been shaped by other factors. For the purpose of this contribution there is no need to precisely trace the exact impact.…”

Shaping the Social Market Economy After the Lisbon Treaty: How ‘Social’ is Public Economic Law?

“…36 Competition law enforcement at the time, at least from a current day perspective, thus rested on (more or less) vague principles and notions of fairness and freedom. 37 This changed in the 1990s when the EU Commission turned to a more 'rational' basis of competition law by making use of the growing field of (competition) economics. 38 According to the EU Commission, competition law would be aimed at protecting the market mechanism, because this mechanism delivers the greatest efficiencies and, thus, provides for maximised economic welfare.…”