The horrors of PowerPoint
See here.
I tend to share the viewpoint that slides do not necessarily make a good speech.
The article does not mention, however, that busy speakers often try to sell “back of the enveloppe” presentations as a surrogate for drafting a paper ahead of a conference (the typical reply being, “Apologies, I cannot write a paper for the conference, but I will come with some slides…“).
So What
Familiar with situations where the EC Courts find a violation of a rule of due process, but refuse to quash a Commission’s decision because, absent this infringement, the outcome of the case would not have been different?
In a very straightforward, and funny, manner, Ivo Van Bael proposed to describe this (“unfortunate“) legal principle as the “so what doctrine” (source: “Insufficient Control of EC Competition Law Enforcement”, Fordham Corporate Law Institute, 1993, at p.742). Awesome.
A refresher now. Ivo Van Bael was one of the most influential Brussels lawyers in the 70s and 80s. Besides being one of the founders of the law firm Van Bael and Bellis, Ivo Van Bael has been one of the strongests advocates of due process/rights of defence issues in competition cases. He has written ferocious papers lambasting the Commission’s attitude in antitrust proceedings (with a certain sense of courage, many practitioners being now reluctant to do so, for fear of ex post retaliation against their clients).
Just wanted to pay tribute to him. This kind of straigthforward language in legal papers is unfortunately disappearing.
Recently published
- « L’exemption des engagements d’exclusivité au “seuil” de la réforme du droit des accords verticaux : Quelle(s) part(s) de marché ? », Doctrines, Concurrences N° 3-2009 – pp. 39-48 Concurrences, N° 3-2009, n°26714, pp. 39-48 (avec M. Abenhaim);
- « Bark at the Moon?” – The outcome of the EC pharmaceutical sector inquiry », Concurrences, N° 3-2009, n°28154, pp. 11-25;
- « Les stratégies juridiques en droit des coordinations entre entreprises – Une approche scénarisée » in A. Masson (éd.), Les stratégies juridiques des entreprises, Larcier 2009.
Jokes on Economists
Presentation on Recent Developments in EC Competition Law
I attach below the slides of a presentation I delivered yesterday at the Federation for Enterprises in Belgium. Nothing groundbreaking, simply an overview of current EC law developments.
Actualité des droits communautaire et belge de la concurrence – FEB Commission juridique
Lost
A year after the inception of the EC settlement procedure, the first settlement in a cartel case is still to happen…
New book – Alternative Enforcement Techniques in EC Competition Law
I am the proud co-editor – together with my colleague and friend C. Gheur – of a new book, which comprises the proceedings of a conference held last year in Brussels.
See here for more details and link hereafter for subscription form: 2090419-prosp
Nicolas
Call for Papers on Antitrust in the Energy Sector
Call for papers: OGEL special issue on “antitrust in the energy sector”
6/5/2009
Oil, Gas and Energy Law Intelligence (www.ogel.org) invites submissions for a Special issue covering antitrust issues in energy. The guest editor for this special issue is MYSELF.
The energy sector is one of the areas where antitrust enforcement in the EU has been the most intensive in recent years. In addition to the very significant sector inquiry 2005-2007 and the cases that are now resulting from that inquiry, the remedies (e.g. divestiture of significant network assets, energy release programmes, etc.) that have been ordered by the European Commission in the energy sector have sparked a lot of controversy. Whilst the EU seems to lean towards increased antitrust intervention in energy markets, including access issues, downstream markets, long-term agreements, LNG imports, etc. other jurisdictions, such as the United States, apparently promote less intrusive approaches (as a result, amongst others, of some US Supreme Court decisions such as Trinko). Finally, a number of antitrust agencies inside and outside the EU have a significant record in the enforcement of antitrust rules in the energy sector.
We encourage submission of relevant papers, studies, and brief comments on various aspects of this subject. The topics may cover all aspects of antitrust enforcement (vertical/horizontal cooperation agreements, abuse of dominance, merger control, etc.) relevant for oil, gas, electricity and other energy sub-sectors including LNG and nuclear.
Call for Postdoc researcher at the Catholic University of Louvain
Interesting Postdoc position available at the UCL. See document below.
Nicolas
Antitrust Stories
For all competition geeks, the story behind the ECJ ruling in Stanley George Adams v Commission (Case 145/83 [1985] ECR 3539) is an absolute MUST READ. Sadly enough, in addition to important financial implications, antitrust cases also have all sorts of tragic consequences.
Chillin'Competition 