This book, co-written by a team of European competition law specialists, offers critical perspectives on the whole range of issues in EC competition law. The book has two distinctive features: the first is that unlike similar works which present the law from either an enforcement agency or practitioner perspective in a fairly conventional manner, this work offers fresh, critical reflections on the state of the law. The second is that the authors are young academics, practitioners and administrators who have worked in the relevant fields and who are relatively new "voices" in the competition law literature. Drawn from diverse jurisdictions and professional backgrounds the authors bring a distinctively "European" feel (for instance not drawing exclusively on English language literature), and manage to introduce debates that have been taking place in the non-English language world, thereby assisting a more comprehensive dialogue in this field. The diversity in their professional backgrounds means that each chapter adopts a different perspective, with some chapters focusing on practical solutions to problems, and others exploring more general theoretical questions.The textbook-like structure places the issues in their appropriate contexts and ensures that readers see how the discussion in each chapter links with the body of law as a whole.The book is aimed at academic lawyers and practitioners, complementing existing textbooks and allowing the reader to extend his or her understanding of the subject and provide a quick source of reference to the main doctrinal debates on the subject, and offer fresh perspectives on the topics covered. The impact of EC competition law beyond Europe also means that this book will appeal to lawyers in the US, Australia, Canada and beyond.

This book, co-written by a team of European competition law specialists, offers fresh critical perspectives on the whole range of issues in EU competition law.

INTRODUCTION(Giuliano Amato and Claus-Dieter Ehlermann)PART I: AGREEMENTS1. UndertakingsThe Concept of an 'Undertaking': The Boundaries of the CorporationA Discussion of Agency, Employees and Subsidiaries (Chris Townley)2. Agreements - Concerted Practices (Horizontal Side)Collusion, Agreements and Concerted Practices: An Economic and LegalPerspective (Antonio Capobianco)3. Agreements (Vertical Side)The Concept of an Agreement and Beyond: How to Block Parallel Imports of Pharmaceuticals to Protect the Heart of Competition (Luis Souto Soubrier)4. Treatment of Horizontal AgreementsThe Quest for Legal Certainty - The EC Competition Law Approach toHorizontal Co-operation Agreements (Krzysztof Kuik)5. Treatment of Vertical AgreementsVertical Agreements: Was the Commission's Response Adequate? On theCommission's Ability to Reform Long-standing Policies(Maurizio Gambardella and Francesco Maria Salerno)PART II: ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION6. DominanceArticle 82 EC - Dominance and Oligopolies (Sigrid Stroux)7. Pricing AbusesUnfair and Predatory Pricing under Article 82 EC: From Cost-price Comparisons to the Search for Strategic Standards (David Howarth)8. BundlingA Four-step Test to Asses the Exclusionary Effects of Bundling under Article 82 EC(Jurian Langer)9. Refusal to DealThe EC Essential Facilities Doctrine (Vassilis Hatzopoulos)10. Abuse of Dominant Position DefencesObjective Justification and Article 82 EC in the Era of Modernisation(Ekaterina Rousseva)PART III: MERGERS11. Horizontal and Vertical MergersHorizontal and Vertical Mergers in the Reformed EC Merger Control(James Killick and Axel Schulz)12. Conglomerate MergersA Comparison of the EU and US Approaches(Richard Burnley)13. Merger DefencesEfficiencies, Failing Firms and Industrial Policy (Giorgio Monti)PART IV: COMPETITION LAW AND THE STATE14. State ActionThe State Action Doctrine (Julio Baquero Cruz)15. Article 86 ECServices of General Interest and EC Competition Law(Jerónimo Maillo)PART V: DECENTRALISATION - ENFORCEMENTINTERNATIONAL DIMENSION16. ModernisationModernisation and Decentralisation: Retrospective and Prospective(Assimakis Komninos)17. Public EnforcementPublic Enforcement by the Commission: a Strategic Perspective(Sophie Germont and Ole Andresen)18. Private EnforcementUpcoming Issues (Veljko Milutinovic)19. International AspectsThe Evolution of the EC International Competition Policy (Bruno Zanettin)