George Mason Law Review Antitrust Symposium

1
George Mason Law Review Antitrust Symposium

• Philip Lowe, Director-General for Competition,
  European Commission
• 20 September 2005

2
Overview

• Key priorities Cartels and Sector inquiries
• Policy review abuse of dominance
• State measures competition screening and soft
  law

3
Cartels

• Creation of dedicated Cartels Directorate
• Fine-tuning cartels procedures access to file,
  fines, leniency, plea-bargaining?
• International cooperation

4
Sector inquiries

• Where circumstances suggest that competition in a
  particular sector may be restricted or distorted
• Better understanding of the markets or a
  particular type of agreement and better
  targeted enforcement action

5
Sector inquiries (2)

• Energy sector
• gas markets
• electricity markets

6
Sector inquiries (3)

• Financial services
• payment systems
• retail banking
• business insurance

7
Policy Review abuse of dominance

• Increasing role of sound economic analysis in EU
  competition law
• Providing a systematic and transparent analytical
  framework

8
State measures

• Competition screening of draft legislation
• Report on professional services in the EU

9
Conclusions

• Reinforcing our cartels enforcement
• Increased market monitoring and targeted
  enforcement sector inquiries
• Looking to novel ways of pursuing our enforcement
  objectives, particularly against State obstacles
  to competition