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30 YARS 225 (2024)
Non-Competition Interests in EU Antitrust Law. An Empirical Study of Article 101 TFEU

handle is hein.journals/yars30 and id is 225 raw text is: BOO 0K R EV IEWW Or Brook, Non-Competition Interests in EU Antitrust Law. An Empirical Study of Article 101 TFEU, Cambridge University Press 2022 The question under what circumstances an agreement that is deemed anticompetitive by its object or by its effect can be exempted from the prohibition under Article 101(1) TFEU is a classic one for EU competition law scholars. While always difficult to answer, this question grew in relevance in the 2000s as a result of two parallel processes. On one hand, the decentralization of competition law enforcement as a result of the adoption of Regulation 1/2003 elevated the role of competition authorities of the EU Member States (NCAs) in the enforcement of Articles 101-102 TFEU. In particular, they were empowered to apply directly Article 101 TFEU within its whole remit, i.e. also with respect to individual exemption regulated in Article 101(3) TFEU. On the other hand, 'more economic approach' was embraced by the European Commission (EC), which limited the relevance of non-economic factors in the EC competition law analysis. While these two processes have been subject to significant scholarly attention, a comprehensive, empirical picture on how Article 101 TFEU operates was missing. For example, little was known about the place of non-competition interests in the practice of application of Article 101 TFEU by NCAs. Did the NCAs embrace the EC 'more economic approach'? How did they balance economic interests linked with protection of competition with other non-economic interests? What legal tools did they use when conducting balancing exercises? These questions are very relevant today in a time of twin (green and technological) transitions. This is the background against which Or Brook's monograph Non-Competition Interests in EUAntitrust Law. An Empirical Study of Article 101 TFEU (Cambridge University Press, 2022) can be viewed. Indeed, the book fills-in the knowledge gaps described above. However, the book does far more than this. The book presents the evolution of the rationale, method and limits for balancing competition and non-competition interests in the enforcement of Article 101 TFEU in the first sixty years of its existence. The author explains how this process affected the objectives of Regulation 1/2003 (namely effectiveness, uniformity and legal certainty), and what role non-competition interests should play in order to conform to such objectives. What clearly distinguishes the book is its novel approach. While many scholars addressed the role of non-competition interests under Article 101 TFEU and the post-2004 shift in the Commission's approach, the book demonstrates how the EC and the NCAs actually administered the balancing in practice. It discovers and analyzes VOL. 2024, 17(30)