Suchen

The EU has unveiled an ambitious plan to regulate online platforms, and the European Commission is proposing to introduce ex ante regulation to ensure that markets characterised by large platforms acting as digital gatekeepers remain fair and competitive for innovators, businesses, and new market entrants. The introduction of an ex ante regulatory framework that could limit online platforms' commercial freedom and give wide-ranging enforcement powers to regulators would be a far-reaching step. Against ...

This note seeks to provide an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's impact assessment (IA) accompanying the above proposal, adopted on 8 June 2017 and referred to Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN). The proposal intends to repeal Regulation (EC) No 868/2004 in order to 'ensure a fair level playing field between European and third country air carriers’ (IA, p. 44), ‘with a view to maintain conditions conducive to a high level of connectivity ...

Der Vertrag über die Arbeitsweise der Europäischen Union (AEUV) enthält in den Artikeln 101 bis 109 Regeln für den Wettbewerb im Binnenmarkt. Danach sind wettbewerbsbeschränkende Vereinbarungen zwischen Unternehmen untersagt. Marktbeherrschenden Unternehmen ist es verboten, ihre Stellung missbräuchlich auszunutzen und so den Handel zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten zu beeinträchtigen. Unternehmenszusammenschlüsse und Übernahmen von gemeinschaftsweiter Bedeutung werden von der Europäischen Kommission kontrolliert ...

Plans for gas pipelines in south-eastern Europe have experienced great upheaval in recent years, the result of business competition as well as the ongoing stand-off between Europe and Russia. The projects' advances and reversals reflect shifting strategies: those of new suppliers to find clients, those of traditional suppliers to conserve their markets and avoid regulatory impediments, and those of both suppliers and clients to ensure greater reliability. For many, this means planning to bypass Ukraine ...

The European Commission is pursuing a number of high-profile investigations in the competition area, highlighting the determination of the new team at the European Union's executive to be a tough enforcer of antitrust laws. Last month, the Commission sent a Statement of Objections to Google, alleging the company has abused its dominant position in the markets for general internet search services. In another Statement of Objections sent out in April, it alleges that some of Gazprom's business practices ...

Since 2013, China's anti-trust regulators have drastically stepped up the enforcement of China's competition law against foreign firms. Major EU and Japanese automobile companies have recently been heavily fined for alleged price-fixing and monopolistic conduct.

The aim of EU competition policy is to safeguard the Single Market by ensuring that enterprises can compete on equal terms. Competition policy encompasses a wide range of areas: antitrust and cartels, merger examination, state aid, the liberalisation of markets and international cooperation. Recent developments include the private antitrust damages actions directive, the recommendation on collective redress and complex modernisation of the state aid rules. Finding effective deterrents to cartels ...

Both the EU and the US have well-developed competition policies that aim to prevent and penalise anticompetitive behaviour. Although the EU and US systems share similar aims, there are a number of significant differences. The EU has an administrative system for antitrust enforcement, in which companies are penalised with fines. In contrast, US antitrust enforcement is based on criminal law, with financial and custodial penalties against individuals.

In view of the trialogue negotiations on the European Commission's two proposals for a regulation on market surveillance of products and on consumer product safety, this briefing note aims to contribute to and strengthen the EP's position on Article 7 of the proposal for a regulation on Consumer product safety relating to origin marking, and the provisions relating to sanctions and penalties proposed in both files. The briefing note presents a comparative table, showing provisions from the EU Customs ...

Im vorliegenden Dokument wird versucht, eine erste Bewertung der Stärken und Schwächen der Folgenabschätzung der Kommission durchzuführen, einer Begleitunterlage zum Vorschlag der Kommission für eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates zur Schaffung eines Rahmens für den Zugang zum Markt für Hafendienste und für die finanzielle Transparenz der Häfen (COM(2013)0296), die am 23. Mai 2013 eingereicht wurde. Es analysiert, ob die in den eigenen Leitlinien der Kommission zur Folgenabschätzung ...