Introduction
Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2027.
Competition law comprises a set of rules aimed to regulate the behavior of economic actors in a market. In a free market economy, competition among economic actors is seen as the best way to regulate the exchange of goods and services. This idea stems from the belief that a competitive market generates significant gains to consumers in the form of lower prices, a wide range of choices and higher level of innovation and leads to an overall increase in societal wealth. The aim of competition rules is to ensure that the market functions properly and that the competitive process is not distorted by the conduct of private actors and to a limited extent states.
This course focuses primarily on EU competition law, which applies to entities conducting business, or engaging in a conduct that have impact, in Europe. Emphasis is placed on the three pillars of EU competition law i.e., the prohibition on cartels (TFEU Article 101), the prohibition on abuse of dominance (TFEU Article 102) and merger control. But the course will also acquaint students with the competition rules as applicable to Member States, particularly the rules regulating state aid to economic actors. Despite the EU focus, the system of competition law in other jurisdictions, particularly the United States, are discussed when they shed light on the specific issues.
By acquainting students to the regulation on cartels and abuse of dominance, the course will enable students to identify legitimate and problematic business conduct in a market and design appropriate legal (and business) strategies to deal with competition concerns. The knowledge on merger control will also help students understand the core substantive and procedural issues needed to deal with mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in practice. Overall, the course aims to equip students with strong technical knowledge on the principles and rules of EU competition law and the enforcement machinery behind it. As competition law is largely harmonized across the EU and international in character, the students should be able to engage and critique competition issues in many jurisdictions around the world.