Archive for July 2010
Greek Prize
A most welcome initiative: The Hellenic Competition Commission, wishing to promote competition culture in Greece, and in the context of its competition advocacy efforts, announces an annual prize of 3,000 euros for the best scientific article in competition (antitrust) law or economics written in Greek by young scholars. Below an announcement in Greek and in English, which defines in detail the conditions and process to be followed.
Competition Law Event of the Year
See programme below and link hereafter.
GCLC – Sixth Annual Conference – 7 & 8 October 2010 – Programme and Registration Form.
DAY ONE
9:00 Welcome Words
Paul Demaret, Rector of the College of Europe
9:10 Presentation of the Conference
Bernard van de Walle de Ghelcke, President of the GCLC, College of Europe and Linklaters
9:20 Keynote Speech – The European Union Courts Experience and Role In Dealing With Competition Law Cases
Sir David Edward, KCMG, QC, former judge at the Court of First Instance and at the Court of Justice, em. prof. University of Edinburgh
I. Morning Session – General Issues
Chair: Jacques Bourgeois, Former-President of the GCLC, College of Europe, WilmerHale
09:40 Judicial Review, the Rule of Law, Regulatory Accountability and the courts’ ability to promote policy changes
Damien Géradin, University of Tilburg (UvT) and Howrey, and Nicolas Petit, University of Liège (ULg)
10:05 Discussant: Takis Tridimas, College of Europe
10:15 Coffee Break
10:35 Judicial Review in EU Economic Regulation Cases
Jacques Derenne, University of Liège (ULg) and Hogan Lovells
11:00 Discussant: Ben Smulders, Legal Service of the European Commission
11:10 Reflections on the EU Courts’ Involvement in Competition Proceedings: Status Quaestionis and Main Trends
Marc van der Woude, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) [TBC]
11 :35 Discussant: Eric Barbier de la Serre, Latham & Watkins
11:45 Q&A Session
12:30 Lunch
II. Afternoon Session – The EU Courts’ Scrutiny over the Commission in Competition Law Cases
Chair: Carles Esteva Mosso, Director, DG Competition
13:30 Annulment Proceedings in Antitrust Cases (Article 101 and 102 TFUE) – Standard of Judicial Review over Substantive Issues
David Bailey, Senior Référendaire at the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and King’s College London (KCL)
13:55 Discussants: Theofanis Christoforou, Legal Service of the European Commission and Mario Siragusa, College of Europe and Cleary Gottlieb
14:15 The General Court’s Full-Jurisdiction over Fines in Competition Cases
Bo Vesterdorf, Herbert Smith and Plesner, Former President of the Court of First Instance
14:40 Discussants: Wouter Wils, Legal Service of the European Commission and KCL, and Ian Forrester, White & Case
15:00 Annulment Proceedings in Merger Cases
Philippe Chappatte, Slaughter and May
15:25 Discussants: Marleen Van Kerckhove, Arnold & Porter and Marc Pittie, Bredin Prat
15:45 Coffee Break
16:05 Annulment Proceedings in State Aid Cases
Massimo Merola, College of Europe and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo
16:30 Discussants: Vittorio Di Bucci, Legal Service of the European Commission and Leigh Hancher, University of Tilburg and Allen & Overy
16:50 Locus Standi before EU Courts, with Special Focus on State Aid
Josef Azizi, Judge at the General Court
17:15 Discussants: Leo Flynn, Legal Service of the European Commission and Thomas Jestaedt, Jones Day
17:35 Q&A Session
18:00 End of Day One
DAY TWO
Institutional and Procedural Challenges Faced by the EU Courts in Competition Law Cases
Chair: Sir Christopher Bellamy, Linklaters, former Judge at the Court of First Instance and at the CAT
9:00 The Role of the Court of Justice in Ensuring Compliance with Fundamental Rights in Competition Cases since the Lisbon Treaty
Nils Wahl, Judge at the General Court
9:25 Discussants: Dean Spielmann, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and Denis Waelbroeck, Free University of Brussels (ULB) and Ashurst
9:45 Expert Economic Evidence in Competition Law Cases
Hans van Houtte, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL)
10:10 Discussants: Simon Bishop, RBB Economics and Luis Ortiz Blanco, Garrigues, University of Madrid and College of Europe
10:30 Q&A Session
11:00 Coffee Break
11:20 The Pros and Cons of Specialized Competition Courts, Chambers and Judges
Roundtable Discussion moderated by Sir Francis Jacobs, KCMG QC, Fountain Court, former Advocate General at the Court of Justice
Discussants: Charles Dhanowa, OBE Registrar of the CAT, Jacqueline Riffault Silk, Court of Appeal of Paris, and Ingeborg Simonsson, Stockholm City Court
12:30 Close of Conference
Lost
A year ago, Nicolas resorted to the series “Lost” to note that one year after the inception of the settlement procedure, no settlement decision had been adopted. That decision still took some more time to see the light: only a month ago was the first settlement decision issued in the DRAMS cartel case. It’s interesting to note that whereas one of the purported objectives of the introduction of settlements in EU competition law was to “help the Commission deal more quickly with cartel cases” (Kroes dixit), this particular case had been under investigation pursuant to a leniency application lodged 8 years ago!
Season 2: this week marked the “second anniversary” of the oral hearing in the air cargo cartel case (that’s easy to remember since the hearing took place in the same dates where Spain won the Eurocup…), and a decision is yet to be adopted. Have these airplanes also been “lost”?
Btw, in a flight to the US a couple of days ago I accidentally happened to read how the last chapter of the series ended. There was no “spoiler alert” so beware of magazines in transatlantic flights.
Oops!… I did it again
Yesterday in a cartel case, the Commission fined 17 producers of prestressing steel a total of € 518 470 750 and again
” accepted three inability-to-pay applications and granted reductions of respectively 25%, 50% and 75% of the fine that would otherwise have been imposed. It had received 13 such applications, under the Commission’s 2006 Fines Guidelines“.
Is this Almunia-driven? Thanks to Kit Brown for pointing out to this intriguing development.
(Image possibly subject to copyrights: source here)
Chillin'Competition 
