The Consistent Application of EU Competition Law: Substantive and Procedural Challenges

In recent years, there has been a decentralisation of the enforcement of the EU competition law provisions, Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Consequently, the national application of these provisions has become increasingly more common across the European Union. This national application poses various challenges for those concerned about the consistent application of EU competition law.

This edited collection provides an in-depth analysis of the most important limitations of, and the challenges concerning, the applicability of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU at national level. Divided into five parts, the book starts out by examining how the consistent enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU operates as a general EU competition policy. It then discusses several recent landmark cases of the European Court of Justice on Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, before proceeding to analyse certain additional, unique jurisdictional challenges to the uniform application of the EU competition law provisions. Subsequently, it focuses on one of the most important instruments that can help to achieve the uniform application of EU competition law in cases handled by the national courts: preliminary rulings. Finally, it provides selective examples of how Articles 101 and 102 TFEU are effectively applied at national level, thereby providing additional input into how problematic the issue of consistent application of EU competition law is in practice.

Dr Adriana Almășan

Adriana Almășan is an Associate Professor of Law and a former Vice-Dean responsible with international relations at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Law. She teaches in various areas of Competition Law and Civil Law (Civil Obligations, Dynamics of Civil Obligations, Property Law, Property Legal Protection and Secured Transactions and Contract Negotiation). She has introduced in the scholar curricula several new subjects, such as Advanced Competition Law for the Master in Public Acquisitions, Concessions and Public-Private Partnership, and as well as Contract Negotiation at the Master of Business Law (for the first time in a faculty of law in Romania). She is member of the panel of arbitrators with the Romanian Court of International Commercial Arbitration by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania. She is author and co-author of several books and articles on civil law, contract negotiation and competition law. She practices law, currently as Managing Partner and coordinator of competition law and contract law practice of Law Office ‘Doru Traila, Silviu Stratulat, Adriana Almășan, Andrei Albulescu, TSAA-Attorneys at Law’. She is a member of the Bucharest Bar Association, with her main practice involving assistance and representation in competition law (antitrust cases, M&A and State aid cases), contract and business negotiation. She has been Senior European Union Expert on competition law and she is the co-founder and co-director of the ‘Centre for Competition Law Studies’, established by the Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest, in cooperation with the Romanian Competition Council.  She is the editor of the private law section of the ‘Judicial Courier’, a law review issued by C. H. Beck Publishing House, and sits on the scientific board of Romanian Competition Review, edited by the Romanian Competition Council.

Dr Peter Whelan

Dr Peter Whelan is an Associate Professor in Lawat the School of Law, University of Leeds, where he is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies. He has degrees in law from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD in Law from St John's College, University of Cambridge. A qualified US Attorney-at-Law, and a member of the New State Bar, Peter is an expert in competition law and criminal law. He sits on the Editorial Boards of five law journals and has published widely in specialist competition law journals, as well as in generalist law journals (including Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Cambridge Law Journal and Modern Law Review). He has provided oral evidence on cartel criminalization to the New Zealand Parliament and recently delivered a commissioned report to the Finnish Ministry of Justice advising it on the desirability of introducing criminal cartel sanctions in Finland. He has provided training in competition law to a variety of judges from different levels of the Romanian judicial system and was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of International Trade and Law in Moscow, Russia. He has used his research and expertise on cartel criminalisation to advise practising lawyers on criminal investigations affecting their clients. Peter is currently the Managing Editor of Oxford Competition Law (operated by Oxford University Press) and sits on the Council of the Society of Legal Scholars. He recently published a monograph with Oxford University Press on the criminalization of European cartel enforcement.