The modernisation of EC competition law - Rein Wesseling

Over recent years, European Community (EC) competition law has come under fire. Continued criticism of all aspects of the means by which EC competition law is enforced has brought to light the ineffectiveness of the system. Consequently, the European Commission has responded by issuing the "White Paper on Modernisation", which sets out its vision on the future of EC competition law.;This text tries to understand the challenges to EC competition policy by examining the origins of the Community's competition law system. The first part of the book sketches the development of Community competition law enforcement between the European Economic Community, established in 1958, and the European Union of 2000. Taking this perspective on EC competion law, the second part of the book addresses topical problems of EC competition policy; the pertinent objectives, the institutional framework, the division of jurisdiction between the Community and the Member States, and decentralized enforcement of Community law. Notably, the author's conclusions diverge considerably from the analysis found in the Commission White Paper on Modernisation. The author proposes various alternative solutions to the existing problems which, arguably, fit better within the overall constitutional development of the Community than the solutions offered by the Commission. The book should be of interest to competition lawyers, as well as to those interested in the constitutional development of the European Community.