Antitrust: Comparative Competition Law

Antitrust/Competition law is probably the most globalized field of law, certainly because it uses the same world-language: economics. However, under the surface of superficial unity, competition laws diverge very significantly in terms of legal thinking, analytical structure and allocation of burden of proof. The course examines the core concepts and principles of antitrust/competition law from a comparative perspective (EU competition law and US antitrust law). It aims at providing the students with a broad overview on the economic, legal and policy problems of contemporary competition law and policy and at equipping them with the conceptual tools that are necessary for analyzing competition matters. The course gives a comprehensive overview on EU and US antitrust/competition law and policy. It takes an economic and public policy approach, elucidating the key-concepts of the two leading regimes of the globe. After a short overview on the basic notions, it covers the traditional fields of competition law (agreements restricting competition, abuse of dominant position/monopolization, concentrations/merger control), as well as public and private enforcement; the course also gives an introduction into the competition rules applicable to states (market liberalization, public services and state aid law). The course has no pre-requisites, and no knowledge of economics is required. The final grade will be based on class-participation (30%) and final examination (70%).