Regulating Competition in the EU

The course offers an overview of the main areas of EU competition law, including an overview over State law.

The aim of the course is to acquire a thorough knowledge of the principles, the law, and the policy problems in this area of EU law, and to become acquainted with the relevant legal sources: mainly the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the secondary EU law, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the administrative practice of the Commission.

Furthermore, the purpose of the subject is to render the student capable of understanding and, on a scientific basis, reflect on the knowledge of the field of study and be able to identify scientific issues.

In relation to the study programme’s qualification profile, the course explicitly focuses on:

• imparting knowledge about the scientific methodology and terminology of the subject matter;
• enhancing skills in being able to communicate research-based knowledge and discuss professional and scientific issues with both academic peers and non-specialists;
• qualifying students to independently take responsibility for own professional development and specialisation.

The course is based on the knowledge acquired in the course EU Law. 

The purpose of the subject is achieved by the fact that the subject contains the following area of study:

• EU competition law in context: The wider body of EU law, esp. Internal Market
  
• Functions of competition law
• Scope of EU competition law
• Art. 101 TFEU (vertical and horizontal agreements and cartels)
• Art. 102 TFEU (abuse of a dominant position)
• Overview on enforcement of EU competition law
• Overview on mergers and joint ventures
• Introduction to EU state aid

• dentify the relevant legal sources
• identify the relevant facts in a particular case
• account for the interaction between the legal sources 

• apply the legal sources in the correct manner and formulate correct arguments using the terminology of the subject.

• reflect on the subject matter
• see things in the wider perspective 

The extent of the literature is expected to be approximately 500-750 pages. 

Alison Jones, Brenda Sufrin, and Niamh Dunne, Jones & Sufrin's EU Competition Law - Text, Cases, and Materiall, 7. Ed. 2019, OUP. Further specification of the mandatory reading as well as additional reading will be included in the course schedule.

Scheduled classes:
3 lectures per week in 10 weeks.

Workload:
1 ECTS is equivalent to 27 working hours. Parts of the curriculum are designated for self-study. This includes in particular the topics of public undertakings and the liberalized sectors. An estimate of the workload for an average student could be:
Face-to-face teaching: 30 hours.
Preparation: 180 hours.
Examination preparation: 59,5 hours.
Oral examination: 0,5 hours
Total: 270 hours.