EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

The research was conducted using the official European case-law database (“EUR-Lex”), as well as the formula to search for the European Commission (the “Commission” or “EC”) cases in Google Search: “keyword” site: https://ec.europa. eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/ file type: pdf after: 1989 before: 2022”. Four terms were searched for in all the documents that relate to “concentrations between undertakings” in the EU case-law since 1989, as categorised by EURLex, and all the cases that relate to “merger control” on the Commission’s website. This resulted in the total of 17 entries on 2 January 2022 with regard to EURLex and the EC website. The search terms were: “freedom to compete”, “freedom of competition”, “economic freedom” and “consumer welfare”. These keywords were chosen on the basis of the formal-dogmatic method (analysis of the literature and cases), as they relate to the fundamental values of the deontological and the consequentialist approaches to competition policy. The searchwas limited to concentrations betweenundertakings:CouncilRegulation (EC) No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings, (the “EUMR”) and Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings, (the “Old EUMR”). 3.1 Teleology of EU competition law European competition law has two teleological dimensions. First, free competition (competition sensu stricto ) can be perceived as a value in itself. Second, the teleology of competition law is based on the implementation of broader EU goals, such as the internal market, which “as set out in Article 3 of the Treaty on the European Union includes a system ensuring that competition is not distorted” (Protocol (No 27) on the internal market and competition. Contrary to what would result from a purely consequentialist approach to competition law, although “the goals of European Competition law centre around, and are primarily consistent with, consumer welfare” (Ezrachi, 2018, p. 4), they are not limited to it. The literature ( inter alia Ezrachi, 2018 and Maier Rigaud, 2012), distinguishes a multitude of purposes of the EU competition law, such as: consumer welfare, consumer well-being, efficiency and innovation, effective competition structure, freedom to compete, market integration and fairness. The division of these values into a representation of consequentialist and deontological approaches is illustrative only, and an explanation of it would require a separate article. 3. Analysis and Problem Solution

154