Keywords: Competition law, decentralisation, modernisation

European competition law is currently undergoing the most radical reform since its conception. Centrepiece of this reform, commonly referred to as "modernisation", is Council Regulation No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 which entered into force on 1 May 2004. The Regulation deals with the implementation of the competition rules of the EC Treaty. It brings about a fundamental reorganisation of the existing division of responsibilities by establishing a system of parallel competences in which the Commission, the national competition authorities and the courts of the Member States of the EU are jointly responsible for enforcing EC competition law (so-called decentralisation). In such a decentralised system, cooperation between the various enforcement bodies will naturally play a vital role in making the new system function. Regulation 1/2003 provides for a number of cooperation mechanisms. However, these mechanisms are essentially limited to the vertical aspects, i.e. the relationship between the European Commission on the one hand and the national enforcement bodies on the other. The horizontal dimension, i.e. cooperation between the national enforcement bodies of different Member States, appears to be underdeveloped. Yet, cooperation at the horizontal level is a equally important and also prerequisite for the proper functioning of Regulation 1/2003. The project will concentrate on these horizontal aspects of the decentralisation of EC competition law enforcement. At the same time, it will focus on the interaction of European competition law and the laws of the Member States. The project forms part of a broader research project relating to the "Impact on national law of decentralisation of EC competition law enforcement" which has been elected for funding by both the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) and the K.U.Leuven Onderzoeksfonds.

Duration of the Project: ongoing project.

Involved Staff Members
 Prof. Dr. Wouter DEVROE
 Prof. Dr. Jules STUYCK
 Silke BRAMMER

Related Publications
 J. Stuyck and H. Gilliams (eds.), E. Ballon (ass. ed.), Modernisation of EC Competition Law - the Commission's Proposal for a New Regulation Implementing Articles 81 and 82 EC, 2002, Intersentia, Antwerpen, xvi + 197 p. (in Leuven CCLE series - Volume 2).

Info K.U.Leuven Research Database

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