Rainer Becker

Rainer Becker is head of unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, and currently dealing with antitrust enforcement and policy in the area of pharmaceuticals and health. Before that, he was leading the central unit in charge of coordinating the Commission’s antitrust and cartel cases and of developing competition policy in this area. Rainer previously served in different other positions within DG Competition, working in particular on the EU’s legislative initiative on private damages actions, and in operational units of the authority handling antitrust and merger matters in manufacturing and consumer goods industries. Before joining the Commission in 2004, he was a lawyer of the Brussels and Cologne bars and a senior associate in an international law firm. He advised clients across a range of industries on European and German merger control, antitrust and cross-border litigation matters. Rainer has published and spoken widely on issues of competition policy, general EU law and comparative law, and lectures at Heidelberg University. Born in 1969, he studied Law, and Spanish & French literature at German, Spanish and Canadian universities and holds Ph.D. (Trier), LL.M. (McGill) and Ass./Ref. iur. (Rh.-Pfalz) degrees in law. He is fluent in German, English, French and Spanish.