1. Pouvez-vous nous rappeler votre parcours professionnel et universitaire ? 2. Pensez-vous que la politique des autorités de concurrence en matière de sanctions devrait prendre en compte le contexte actuel de crise économique et notamment les conséquences que le paiement d’une amende élevée peut (...)

This set of three papers are derived from the training session on the “Passing on defence” organized by Concurrences Review that has held on 5th July 2011 in Paris. The first contribution written by the economist Emmanuel Combe is dedicated to the definition of the fundamental notions. The second (...)

Prosecuting Cartels in France and in Germany, Introductory papers : The Bundeskartellamt’s New Organization and Policies Andreas MUNDT President of the Bundeskartellamt 1. In an increasingly international environment where it is standard practice for businesses to operate not in several (...)

When determining a pecuniary sanction, the French Competition Authority will take into account several criteria including the « damage to the economy » caused by the illicit practice. Evaluating this damage involves several variables and the task remains inherently complex due to the lack of (...)

This article draws an exhaustive panorama of all the cartels convicted by the European Commission (111 cartels convicted from 1959 to 2009) and depicts the cartel profile in Europe. We analyze our sample comparing our results with those obtained from international and U.S. data. We study (...)

Despite its economic success, the low cost model is often considered as detrimental to consumers because it may reduce the quality level of products and services. Contrary to this view, we argue the low cost model is beneficial for consumers, by allowing them to choose an adequate quality level (...)

Based on a sample of 64 cartels convicted by the European Commission from 1975 to 2009, we estimate from easily computable microeconomic variables a range of restitution fines, which amount to the illicit gain, and a range of dissuasive fines, which take into account the probability of (...)

Introducing antitrust and consumers class action has been debatted since more than 20 years in France. This set of 6 articles from various authors suggest that 2008 may well be the right time. The State Secretary in charge of Industry and Consumers takes side in favour of such a reform. (...)

La publication du rapport Beigbeder sur le low cost a retenu l’attention en proposant de faire de ce modèle économique un levier de baisse des prix, au service du pouvoir d’achat. Mais pour le spécialiste de la concurrence, le rapport présente également un autre intérêt, sans doute moins matérialiste. (...)

This paper provides an empirical methodology to determine fines to be imposed on a cartel which is based on easily computable economic variables. Our approach allows to compare, on a case by case basis, the amount of monetary penalties inflicted by antitrust authorities to the illegal profit (...)

Cet article présente la première étude systématique de tous les cartels condamnés par la Commission européenne depuis 1969. Il fournit une analyse de leurs caractéristiques permettant de tracer leur portrait robot - secteurs concernés, nombre de parties à l’accord, évaluation du rôle des associations (...)

La guerre économique et juridique que se livrent laboratoires et génériqueurs a connu depuis le début de l’année 2006 de nouveaux développements, qui nous conduisent à actualiser notre étude parue dans le numéro 1-2006 de cette revue. Nous focaliserons notre attention sur deux types de comportements qui (...)

Présentation À l’heure où la Commission publie de nouvelles lignes directrices relatives au calcul des amendes en matière antitrust, il apparaît opportun de s’interroger sur la finalité et l’efficacité des sanctions infligées aux entreprises ayant enfreint les règles de concurrence, notamment dans le cas (...)

Facing patent expiry and competition from generic drugs, pharmaceutical companies rely on a wide array of defensive strategies, building on the innovator’s brand image, the extension of the legal market exclusivity period, or the launch of second generation products. While all of these (...)