In the debate on the enforcement of competition law, many take the view that Europe should avoid the traps US law has fallen into by admitting excessive litigation. European law should not pave the way for judicial proceedings which ultimately serve the interests of lawyers or other agents rather than injured parties. This inquiry describes the state of remedies in competition law in fifteen European countries, analyses the underlying determinants, and proposes ways of improving the enforcement of competition law. The International and European legal frameworks are presented, as is the approach of US-American law. It is argued that efforts to strengthen private enforcement of antitrust law should benefit from the rich European experience in unfair competition law. The divergence between the two fields of law is not so huge that
In the debate on the enforcement of competition law, many take the view that Europe should avoid the traps US law has fallen into by admitting excessive litigation. European law should not pave the way for judicial proceedings which ultimately serve the interests of lawyers or other agents rather than injured parties. This inquiry describes the state of remedies in competition law in fifteen European countries, analyses the underlying determinants, and proposes ways of improving the enforcement of competition law. The International and European legal frameworks are presented, as is the approach of US-American law. It is argued that efforts to strengthen private enforcement of antitrust law should benefit from the rich European experience in unfair competition law. The divergence between the two fields of law is not so huge that a completely different treatment is justified. Thus, a specifically European way of competition law enforcement could be developed.
• Describes the competition law in 15 European countries, giving readers an impression of the different ways in which different countries try to obtain certain results • Compares Unfair Competition Law and Antitrust Law, two fields of law which are normally treated separately • The International and European framework is included, giving the reader a global perspective on this topic.
Contents
Part I. Remedies in Unfair Competition and Consumer Protection Law: 1. Setting the basics - the legal framework; 2. Contemporary solutions: the case studies; 3. Results and conclusions for remedies in unfair competition law; 4. Graphics; Part II. Remedies in Antitrust Law: 5. Introduction; 6. Private enforcement of competition law: a comparative perspective by David J. Gerber; 7. Case studies; 8. Conclusions; 9. Outlook: the link between unfair competition law and antitrust law.
Contributors
Antti Aine, Jesús Alfaro Aguila-Real, Torbjörn Andersson, Lia Athanassiou, Katalin Cseres, Rikard Englund, Sofia Englund, Helmut Gamerith, David Gerber, Ariënne Gommers, Andreas Heinemann, Sarah Johnson, Siún O'Keeffe, Zsófia Lendvai, Fayna León, Cornelia Marin, Luís Menezes Leitão, Adelaide Leitão, Thomas M. J. Möllers, Sune Troels Poulsen, Izabela Raiwa, Giuseppe Rossi, Peter Rott, Jeremy Scholes, Manola Scotton, David Townend, Pertti Virtanen