The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues (ed.5), Alistair LINDSAY and Alison BERRIDGE

Alistair Lindsay, Alison Berridge

This section selects books on themes related to competition laws and economics. This compilation does not attempt to be exhaustive but rather a survey of themes important in the area. The survey usually covers publication over the last three months after publication of the latest issue of Concurrences. Publishers, authors and editors are welcome to send books to catherine.prieto@univ-paris1.fr for review in this section.

The 5th edition of The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues offers a fully updated version of this work, incorporating the evolution of law and practice of EU merger control since 2012. It is an essential read for any lawyer or regulator involved in the approval process, providing the most comprehensive and navigable guide available to the substantive analysis at the heart of EU merger control. The text includes a wide-ranging review of the Commission’s decisional practice, guidance and other publications, decisions of the European Courts, economic thinking and international comparisons to provide authoritative guidance on:

 the legal context in which the Commission’s analysis is carried out;
 the way in which fundamental concepts such as market definition, market operation and the Commission’s forward-looking analysis are applied;
 the theories of harm likely to be raised against a merger and relevant counter-arguments and defences;
 the economic theories underlying the Commission’s analysis;
 the categories of evidence canvassed before the Commission; and
 the types of remedies accepted to deal with specific issues

New features for the 5th edition:

 expanded coverage of quantitative economic analysis, reflecting the increased use of such techniques by the Commission;
 discussion of evolving theories of harm, such as the treatment of loss of innovation competition where no pipeline products can be identified;
 reflection of the Commission’s newly refined analysis of the economic impact of non-controlling shareholdings; and
 consideration of recent cases applying input and customer foreclosure theories to technology platforms

Key cases covered include:

 GE/Alstom, offering new guidance on the design and analysis of bidding studies;
 Hutchison 3G Austria/Orange Austria and Telefonica Deutschland/E-Plus suggesting the Commission may be increasingly willing to consider upward pricing pressure tests;
 cases of the European Courts such as Cisco Systems and Messagenet v Commission, Deutsche Börse v Commission and Niki Luftfahrt GmbH Commission on the burden and standard of proof;
 three key “failing firm” decisions: Olympic/Aegean I, Nynas/Shell/Harburg Refinery and Aegean/Olympic II; and
 INEOS/Solvay/JV and Hutchison 3G UK/Telefonica UK analysing the price effects of completed mergers

Authors

  • Monckton Chambers (London)
  • Monckton Chambers (London)

Quotation

Alistair Lindsay, Alison Berridge, The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues (ed.5), Alistair LINDSAY and Alison BERRIDGE, November 2017, Concurrences N° 4-2017, Art. N° 104226

Publisher Sweet & Maxwell

Date 23 June 2017

Number of pages 730

ISBN 9780414052598

Visites 110

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