Competition Policy and Market Regulation
Competition policy is one of the pillars of the Internal Market and a centre-piece of the Economic Constitution of the European Union. Competition rules protect the process of decentralised decision-making that results from the use of economic liberties.
It is one of the remarkable success-stories of the European Union that it has been able to give strength to economic liberties and competition policy as an integrating force. Private practices in restraint of competition are outlawed where they are in violation of competition rules, and market regulation by Member States must be compatible with the free movement rules and a system of open markets and undistorted competition more generally.
The Schuman Centre has long been at the forefront of research with regard to important developments in competition policy and the (ambivalent) role of regulation in creating or restraining competition.
This research concerns the fundamental issues of competition policy—its goals within the European Union, the underpinning legal and economic principles, the structure of legal rules—and covers the whole field ranging from anticompetitive agreements to rules regarding market power, merger control, competition rules addressed to the Member States, state aid rules and public procurement rules.
In the area of market regulation, the topics dealt with by the Schuman Centre range from the legitimacy, structure, failure and successes of 'regulation for competition' that we observe in liberalized markets like energy and telecommunications, to the issue of 'private regulation' with its potentially problematic competitive effects, to the market regulation in the area of corporate law and financial market rules.
The Florence School of Regulation (FSR) is a partnership between the Schuman Centre and the Council of the European Energy Regulators (CEER), working closely with the European Commission and financed by a group of companies interested in regulation. The FSR develops academic research and promotes interaction with decision-makers in public institutions and in companies.
At present, the FSR is focused on the economic regulation of energy, in particular on electricity and gas markets, but it aims to become a reference point for regulatory theory and practice in various sectors. Themes of interest include the liberalisation of the electricity and gas markets, security of supply, the interplay between national and European regulation, development of incentive-based regulation, and environmental issues.
On such themes the School concentrates a discussion of regulatory concepts, practices and policies, to facilitate the dissemination of best practices, an early awareness of new challenges and the development of a common regulatory language and regulatory culture.
Activities include workshops, training courses, an annual conference and a regulatory round table of academics, and additional ad hoc research projects. Fellows in residence and visiting scholars ensure new developments in original research.
This project on EU Competition Law in Legal and Historical Perspectives (EULAH) is the result of a cooperation between the European University Institute and the University of Mannheim. As one of the very first in its kind, it brings together lawyers and historians in the field of EU studies and fosters interdisciplinary cooperation.
This project addresses key questions raised by the emergence of mixed – public-private – regulatory regimes in transnational governance.
The project aims to set down the theoretical foundations for policy recommendations through appropriate governance design, impact assessment analysis carried out in cooperation with the stakeholders, and research concerning the effects of these regimes on national and transnational legal orders.
The EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop is a longstanding program exploring topical policy and enforcement issues in the field of EC competition law. The program, established in 1996 by EUI Law Professors Claus-Dieter Ehlermann and Giuliano Amato, is nowadays recognised as one of the main reference fora for debate on EC competition law and policy issues.
The distinguishing features of this programme are its inter-disciplinary approach—bringing together perspectives from law, economics, academia, and practitioners—and the informal, non-commercial environment of the debate. Each year the Workshop draws together a group of top-level EU and international policy-makers, judges, academics, practising lawyers and economic consultants for a one-and-half day intensive roundtable debate.
The written contributions prepared for the Workshop are made available on-line shortly after the event. The complete collection of the Workshop materials—including the written contributions and the transcripts of the oral debate—are published in the European Competition Law Annual series of volumes produced in collaboration with Hart Publishing (Oxford and Portland, Oregon).
The planned research focuses on the role of corporate social responsibility in the nurturing of regulation in states with weak regulatory capacity. International agreements explicitly encourage firms to diffuse standards of good practice in the countries in which they operate.
To what extent do multinational firms in their implementation of international standards contribute to the creation of regulatory capacity and the raising of environmental and health regulation in states with weak regulatory capacity? Through which processes, if at all, do 'good practices' of multinational firms affect the administrative and regulatory policy and practice of these states and thereby contribute to a higher level of environmental and health protection in these countries? Under which conditions is it more likely that corporate social responsibility achieves a high level of regulation? What role do non-governmental organizations, and multi-stakeholder networks, the particular sectoral structure and sectoral associations play in such a process? And most importantly, do demanding corporate social practices function as a 'model' for weak national regulatory authorities, or are they rather used as a resource in domestic regulatory conflicts?
This research is conducted by Prof. Adrienne Héritier and Prof. Tanja Börzel (Free University of Berlin).