The role of efficiencies under EU competition law

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Commission embarked on a comprehensive review and came up with a series of new proposals for legislation in its modernisation and reform packages. One of the most striking features of the Commission’s efforts is the inclusion of economic factors into competition law analyses, allowing greater scope for economic efficiency arguments in its competitive analysis in different competition law areas, such as restrictive agreements, mergers and unilateral behaviour. -- The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of efficiencies and their role in different areas of ED competition law. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I of the thesis examines the concept of efficiency, the theory of welfare standards, and the relationship between such standards and efficiencies under different welfare standards. It explains the importance of efficiency considerations in competition law analysis and examines the main methodologies to take into account efficiency considerations. While discussing these methodologies, the thesis establishes the distinction between efficiencies as a defence to an otherwise anti-competitive conduct and efficiencies as a ’rebuttal’ and/or a ’factor’ in the overall assessment of the conduct. Part I also considers the source of efficiency gains and provided a typology of efficiencies to identify the potential types of efficiencies that are used in competition law analysis. -- In Part II, the thesis undertakes an extensive review as to how efficiencies are treated under the EU Merger Regulation, Article 101 TFEU and Article 102 TFEU. The thesis reviews the efficiency evaluation criteria and the European Commission’s past and current decisional practice to understand the role of efficiencies under EU competition law. The thesis also discusses the burden of proof in claiming and verifying efficiencies.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

King's College London

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Gursoy, Ece

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Whish, Richard

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/b79657e1-1dd1-4d87-abcb-8cc6428153c2

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/b79657e1-1dd1-4d87-abcb-8cc6428153c2