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The purpose of this study, which has so far remained unique in its kind, is to analyse the relationship between social law and competition law, emphasising the need for consistency in the legal system. The subject has been highly topical in recent years. First of all in case law, since it was, for example, during this period that the Court of Justice delivered its judgment on Dutch pension funds, which still constitutes a reference on the subject of collective agreements and on the issue of the competitive tendering of supplementary pension schemes. The topicality of the subject also lies in its relation to the reforms under way. Thus the discussions on state aid show the sensitivity of competition law to social issues. Moreover, the subject is still at the heart of political controversies which tend to conceive of social law as dealing with salaried workers and men even outside any economic activity, whereas competition law would only deal with companies and consumers.
This study is therefore set in a controversial and topical context by bringing to it an approach that is both systematic and objective; the author thus lists and analyses all the cases in which social standards have been challenged or accepted by competition law, making it a reference work.
