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This is an archived Web site from the Library of Congress
http://www.professorgeradin.blogs.com/
Archived: 12/05/2008 at 00:12:30
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Regulation through Agencies in the EU: A New Paradigm of European Governance
The Liberalization of State Monopolies in the European Union (EUROPEAN MONOGRAPHS Volume 23)
The WTO and Global Convergence in Telecommunications and Audio-Visual Services
Short notice: the next lunch talk of the GCLC will take place on 18 December. Topic: the ECJ ruling in GSK. Speakers are Ian FORRESTER, from White & Case LLP and José Luis BUENDIA SIERRA, from Guarrigues.
Please find below the registration form.
Download Registration Form - 37th Lunch Talk-The ECJ Judgment in the GSK case -
I was interviewed last Saturday on the 7:00 pm news programme of RTL/TVI. A most interesting experience. See video here at 1:15.
PS: if anyone knows how to record this stream feed, pls let me know.
Together with L. Rabeux, a colleague at Howrey, I just completed a new paper entitled "Judicial Review in French Competition Law and Economic Regulation - A Post Commission v. Tetra Laval Assessment". Please find hereafter the abstract. The paper can be downloaded here on ssrn.
The present article seeks to assess the degree of judicial scrutiny performed by French courts when reviewing National Competition Authorities ("NCAs") and National Regulatory Authorities ("NRAs") decisions in the aftermath of the seminal ruling handed down by the European Court of Justice (the "ECJ") in Commission vs. Tetra Laval.
In this judgment, the ECJ considered that the European Community ("EC") courts should refrain from engaging in a de novo assessment of the decisions adopted by the European Commission (the "Commission"), when enforcing EC competition rules and, arguably, in other fields such as sector-specific regulation.
In light of the general duty of Member States to fully ensure the effet utile of EC legislation, the question arises whether the Tetra Laval standard of judicial review promoted by the ECJ has been endorsed by national courts, when reviewing decisions of NCAs and NRAs. Indeed, the equally ranking principle of procedural autonomy implies that national legal orders should remain free to decide the degree of judicial scrutiny applicable to decisions from national regulators.
The present article examines whether the French courts have drawn inspiration from the ECJ's moderate standard of judicial review in Commission vs. Tetra Laval, or if, on the contrary, a stricter standard prevails under French law. To that end, it is divided into four sections, which follow a chronological approach. The first section provides an overview of the specificities of the French judicial review system in the pre-Tetra Laval world (I). As in the French judicial system many courts have jurisdiction over regulators' decisions, it seeks to clarify who judges the regulators, the judicial remedies available to regulated entities and the degree of judicial scrutiny traditionally exercised over regulators' decisions in the pre-Tetra Laval period.
The second section offers a brief analysis of Commission vs. Tetra Laval where the Court introduced a new standard of judicial review different from that found in previous case-law. It argues that the ECJ's judgment marks a striking piece of judicial deference towards regulators' decisions (II).
The third section determines whether the Tetra Laval judgment has impacted on the degree of judicial scrutiny applied in practice by French courts when reviewing regulators' decisions in the areas of competition law (including merger control and antitrust) and sector-specific regulation (III). We find that French courts have not followed the Tetra Laval ruling in the area of competition law, and, to the contrary, that they scrutinize intensively the procedural aspects but also the merits of the NCAs' decisions. By contrast, French courts display a much higher degree of deference with respect to NRAs' decisions in the field of sector-specific regulation.
The fourth section offers a brief conclusion (IV).
Kim Talus and Michael Hunt, from the Energy Law Research Forum (ELRF), are behind the organization of a much ambitious conference on Climate Change and Energy Security. The conference will take place on 15 and 16 December in Brussels. Please see below for the programme.
On 5 December Lexxion, organises another conference for the European State Aid Law Institute (EStALI). This year's autumn event on European State aid law is being arranged in cooperation with the University of Luxembourg and is titled Selectivity - BUPA - Fundamental Freedoms. The conference is preceded by an intensive-workshop targeted at a limited number of qualified delegates on 4 December to discuss these currently hotly debated issues more thoroughly.
As keynote speaker the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, will address the conference participants. Furthermore Marc Jaeger, President of the European Court of First Instance (CFI), and Arjen Meij, Judge at the CFI have been invited.
See below for the programme.
The Institute for European Legal Studies (IEJE) organizes a half-day conference on the European Commission’s Pharmaceutical Sector Inquiry in association with the Facultés Universitaires St Louis (CIPI), Brussels, and the LL.M. in Competition and IP Law from the University of Liege.
This half-day conference will take place at Fondation Universitaire in Brussels on 14 January 2009. An excellent set of speakers has been invited to discuss the Commission’s Preliminary Report, due on 28 November 2008.
The programme of the event, as well as a registration form, can be found in the document below. The deadline for booking registration is 5 January 2009. Please register early as space is limited. An admission email will follow, upon receipt of the registration form.
Please do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any queries about this event.
On 9 December, a new CLEC (competition law and economic regulation) conference will take place in Brussels. The conference is entitled "the test for economic regulation in telecoms - three criteria and Significant Market Power". Hereafter, the conference programme and registration form.
Last week in Hamburg, Germany, I was awarded the 2008 Jacques Lassier Prize by the International League of Competition Law (LIDC) for my book on Oligopolies and Tacit Collusion. Obviously I am very proud.
More generally, the Annual Conference of the LIDC was great - the various national reports on fidelity rebates can be found here. Next edition will take place in Vienna.
And congratulations to J- Fourgoux for bringing fun and a certain sense of poetry to the conference ... "On n'attrape pas les trolls avec du pain perdu"...
In the quiet, rainy, summer 2008, the Commission asked stakeholders to comment, four years down the line, on the functioning of Regulation 1/2003. In the limited timeframe allowed by the Commission, the Global Competition Law Centre of the College of Europe has submitted comments.
The text of the press release and the GCLC comments can be found here.
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