Chillin'Competition

For all Orwell’s 1984 fans, the new numbering of former Article 81 EC involves a puzzling, unfortunate, coincidence. In Orwell’s brilliant novel, Article Room 101 is “a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia“.

As argued by many competition practitioners lately, the fact is that applying Article 101 TFEU – and in particular, Article 101(3) TFEU – is akin to entering into a room of intellectual contorsions, risks and uncertainties of Orwellian magnitude. Thanks to my colleague Christian Bergqvist for the pointer.

(Image possibly subject to copyright: source here)