Competition Law: Convergence Through Law and Networks

Abstract

Competition Law: Convergence through Law and Networks uses an evolutionary lens to explore how the EU competition law regime is undergoing change again with the introduction of the ECN+ Directive (2019/1) and the Damages Directive (2014/104). Modernization through Regulation 1/2003 was revolutionary. Alongside the move to a more economics-based approach by the Commission, enforcement was delegated to National Competition Authorities, releasing Commission time and resources to focus on much bigger and economically significant cases. This chapter examines how the European Competition Network is an important governance tool in developing coherence, convergence, and mutual cooperation and how the limitations of minimal procedural convergence led to the pendulum of evolution swinging back again towards the EU with the Damages and ECN+ Directive.