Competition Law of the European Union

Competition Law of the European Union provides a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the EU competition rules as developed primarily by the Commission, the General Court and the Court of Justice. The new Sixth Edition of a major work by the well-known competition law team at Van Bael & Bellis in Brussels brings the book up to date to take account of the many developments in the case law and relevant legislation that have occurred since the Fifth Edition in 2010.

The developments in EU competition law that have occurred have been largely incremental rather than momentous. The authors have also taken the opportunity to write a much-extended chapter on private enforcement and a dedicated section on competition law in the pharmaceutical sector. There has been significant change since the last edition with major cases and other developments in areas such as merger review procedure and cartel enforcement, and this edition will follow the successful format of previous editions covering these developments.

In this comprehensive new edition, the authors examine such notable developments as the following:
- important rulings concerning the concept of a restriction by object under Article 101
- the extensive case law in the field of cartels, including in relation to cartel facilitation and price signalling important rulings of Article 102 concerning pricing and exclusivity, including the Post Danmark and Intel judgments, as well as standard essential patents
- the current block exemption and guidelines applicable to vertical agreements, including those applicable to the motor vehicle sector
- developments concerning online distribution, including the Pierre Fabre and Coty rulings
- the current guidelines and block exemptions in the field of horizontal cooperation, including the treatment of information exchange
- the evolution of EU merger control, including court defeats suffered by the Commission and the case law on procedural infringements
- the burgeoning case law related to pharmaceuticals, including concerning reverse payment settlements the current technology transfer guidelines and block exemption
- procedural developments, in relation to the right to privacy, access to file, parental liability, fining methodology, inability to pay and hybrid settlements
- the implementation of the Damages Directive and the first interpretative rulings

With an attempt to cut through the theoretical underpinnings of EU competition law to expose its actual impact on business, this book combines a critical commentary on the rules with practical guidance on their application. One of its kind, this book is an authoritative new edition of a classic work that proves to be of immeasurable value to both business persons and their legal advisers