Basic Handbook on the Essentials of EU Competition Law

This handbook addresses the main topics of European competition law that are taught at law degree level. It is specially adapted to the ICADE curriculum for having a single textbook that provides all the relevant and useful information on the subject in a nutshell format. Namely, this book deals with the concept and goals of competition law (chapter 1), collusion and concerted practices (chapter 2), abuse of dominant position (chapter 3), merger control (chapter 4) and state aid control and services of general economic interest (chapter 5). Th e said issues are explained in a simple and basic manner in order to facilitate students´ comprehension of the subject. Nevertheless, this textbook reviews important competition law aspects thoroughly. Consequently, it provides a proper and practical analysis of the legal matters that are commented on it, which may be also useful to nonexpert competition law practitioners. All in all, this handbook updates, summarizes and simplifi es the core aspects of this subject, serving as an introduction and as a guide to Law students or law professionals who do not lead daily with European competition law. Dr. Héctor Daniel Marín Narros is an attorney who is licensed to practice law in Spanish and New York jurisdiction. He is a lecturer of Competition Law at the Universidad Pontifi cia de Comillas (ICADE). He also teaches at other universities, such as Universidad San Pablo CEU. He has a strong academic background (Phd at UNED, LLM at University of California, Berkeley and LLM at Instituto de Empresa) and an interesting professional experience that has been acquired by practicing law at reputed law firms (Uría Menéndez, Ernst & Young, Price water house Coopers). Índice First Chapter. INTRODUCTION TO COMPETITION LAW 1.1. Competition law in Spain and the EU, and antitrust internationally 1.2. Basic economics supporting competition law 1.3. Goals of competition law 1.4. Building blocks of EU competition law 1.5. Basic concepts on EU competition law 1.6. Relationship with other areas of economic law, such as unfair competition, trademark and IP law Second Chapter. COLLUSION AND CONCERTED PRACTICES 2.1. Collusive practices ? prohibition 2.2. Legal consequences of the infringement: nullity 2.3. Efficiency defense 2.4. Block exemptions regulations and guidelines Third Chapter. ABUSE OF A DOMINANT POSITION 3.1. Prohibition of the abuse of a dominant position 3.2. Objective justifi cation: treatment of effi ciencies and justifying / mitigating factors 3.3. The case of technology-intensive sectors 3.4. State action: enforcement against public bodies and monopolies Fourth Chapter. MERGER CONTROL 4.1. Concept of merger 4.2. EU and national fi ling thresholds and calculation of turnover for merger control purposes 4.3. The compatibility assessment: SIEC test and competition forecasts 4.4. Procedure before the European Commission: pre-notifi cation, Phase I, Phase II and remedies 4.5. Procedure before national competition authorities and multijurisdictional mergers 4.6. Challenges to merger control decisions and damages awards Fifth Chapter. STATE AID CONTROL AND SERVICES OF GENERAL ECONOMIC INTEREST 5.1. Concept of state aid 5.2. Market economy investor principle, exemptions and justifi cations for state aid 5.3. State aid related to services of general economic interest 5.4. Procedure before the European Commission and eventual recovery of illegal state aid 5.5. Private enforcement of state aid rules