Competition law through the lenses of national constitutions

• Department of Law

This event features a paper presentation by EUI Fernand Braudel Fellow Maciej Bernatt.

This article analyses competition legislation through the lenses of national constitutions. Building on existing literature, it posits that competition laws should be construed in accordance with the values promoted in national constitutions. The analysis is situated within the contemporary discourse surrounding the ‘just transition’ towards a carbon-neutral economy. The article categorises the regulatory frameworks identified within all 52 national constitutions that explicitly protect competitive markets alongside social and environmental values. Subsequently, the paper transitions to an examination of two countries—Poland and South Africa—to elucidate how national competition laws reflect constitutional choices. Overall, the article seeks to incite an academic discourse regarding the significance of national constitutions in the realm of antitrust in a time when we seek a better balance between market, social and environmental values. The article could be accessed through this link.

Speaker:

Maciej Bernatt is a Full Professor of Law at the University of Warsaw. He holds the Chair in European Economic Law at the Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw and he is the director of the Centre for Antitrust and Regulatory Studies. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies and the co-director of ASCOLA Central Europe Chapter. Maciej's research interests lie at the intersections of competition law and constitutional law, administrative law and EU law. 

The presentation will be followed by an informal discussion over lunch, for which a limited number of vouchers will be provided.