PhD Defence of Ben Van Rompuy

4 Oct 2011 15:30
4 Oct 2011 19:00

Is Economic Efficiency the Be-All and End-All of Modern Antitrust Enforcement? The past, current, and future role of non-efficiency considerations in the application of Article 101 TFEU


Abstract

The European Commission’s recent attempts to redefine the objectives of EU antitrust law signals how an exclusive economic efficiency approach, which has come to dominate US antitrust law thinking, is gradually taking hold in Europe. This dissertation examines the modern adjustment of the objectives of EU antitrust law and its implications for the role of non-efficiency considerations in the application of Article 101 TFEU.

By tracing the genesis of the exclusive efficiency approach to EU antitrust enforcement – through the combination of a theoretical, comparative, and law in context perspective – the dissertation uncovers several misconceptions that underpin it. A case study of the European Commission’s Article 101 TFEU decisional practice related to the audiovisual sector adds a vertical dimension to the analysis.

The author demonstrates that the objectives structure of EU antitrust law, unlike that of US antitrust law, is still very much in a state of flux. A one-sided efficiency based reconstitution of EU antitrust law doctrine would be incompatible with the case law of the EU courts and the pluralist value base of the Treaty. Furthermore, the author challenges the mainstream thinking that the Commission’s new approach marginalizes the role of non-efficiency considerations in the application of Article 101 TFEU - for better or for worse. The key problem lies elsewhere. The Commission’s new approach and the continued presence of alternative methodologies obfuscate the role of non-efficiency considerations.

Programme

  • 15h30: Welcome
  • 16h00: Interventions by the Jury
  • 17h15: Interaction with the audience
  • 17h30: Retreat of the jury, proclamation and laudatio
  • 18h00: Reception

Practical & Venues

Please RSVP by sending an e-mail to ben.van.rompuy@vub.ac.be

The PhD Defence will take place at the Karel van Miert Building, Pleinlaan 5, 1050 Brussel. (Directions)