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Towards a Regulation of the European Energy Sector through Commitment Procedures in Competition law? Some Lines of Enquiry

By  |  January 11, 2013

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Frederic Marty ((French National Centre of Scientific Research Fellow), Groupe de Recherche en Droit Economie et Gestion (Research Group on Law, Economics and Management) and UMR CNRS 7321 – Universite de Nice Sophia-Antipolis) brings us Towards a Regulation of the European Energy Sector through Commitment Procedures in Competition law? Some Lines of Enquiry

ABSTRACT: The systematic use of commitments in the European energy sector competition case-law seems to achieve, through individual decisions, the Commission’s initial objectives of the Third Package negotiations. This article aims at analyzing to what extend antitrust remedies could go beyond the mere correction of abuses and could contribute to a regulation of competition. Judicial review, in terms of proportionality control, and the Commission’s degrees of freedom in negotiated procedures question not only competition policy and sector-specific regulation respective scopes but also European competition policy theoretical foundations.