Towards an optimal enforcement of competition rules in Europe - Time for a Review of Regulation 1/2003 ?

The adoption of Regulation 1/2003 marked a new era in EU competition enforcement. Since its entry into force, the work of practitioners has radically changed, the Commission's priorities have shifted towards cartels and high profile abuse of dominance cases, notifications have been abolished and new, negotiated, procedures such as settlements, have been introduced. Moreover, the relationship between national and European law has become more complex, the number of stakeholders has increased rapidly and private enforcement has slowly, but relentlessly, taken momentum. The purpose of the present book is to contribute in a timely manner to the Commission's own assessment of possible needs for the reform of Regulation 1/2003. Taking stock of five years of experience under Regulation 1, this book examines the problems that arose from its implementation and formulates public policy recommendations, advocating for future reform in the field. To this end, this book contains the reports prepared ahead of the 2009 Annual Conference of the Global Competition Law Centre (GCLC) on the review of Regulation 1. Those report, which were drafted by more than 60 lawyers from both private practice and academia, are followed by the comments of Commission officiais.