CHOICE – a NEW STANDARD for COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? a Choice — a New Standard for Competition Law Analysis?

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CHOICE – a NEW STANDARD for COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? a Choice — a New Standard for Competition Law Analysis? GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? a Choice — A New Standard for Competition Law Analysis? Editors Paul Nihoul Nicolas Charbit Elisa Ramundo Associate Editor Duy D. Pham © Concurrences Review, 2016 GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS All rights reserved. No photocopying: copyright licenses do not apply. The information provided in this publication is general and may not apply in a specifc situation. Legal advice should always be sought before taking any legal action based on the information provided. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any acts or omissions contained herein. Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to the Institute of Competition Law, at the address below. Copyright © 2016 by Institute of Competition Law 60 Broad Street, Suite 3502, NY 10004 www.concurrences.com [email protected] Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2016 Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication (Provided by Quality Books, Inc.) Choice—a new standard for competition law analysis? Editors, Paul Nihoul, Nicolas Charbit, Elisa Ramundo. pages cm LCCN 2016939447 ISBN 978-1-939007-51-3 ISBN 978-1-939007-54-4 ISBN 978-1-939007-55-1 1. Antitrust law. 2. Antitrust law—Europe. 3. Antitrust law—United States. 4. European Union. 5. Consumer behavior. 6. Consumers—Attitudes. 7. Consumption (Economics) I. Nihoul, Paul, editor. II. Charbit, Nicolas, editor. III. Ramundo, Elisa, editor. K3850.C485 2016 343.07’21 QBI16-600070 Cover and book design: Yves Buliard, www.yvesbuliard.fr Layout implementation: Darlene Swanson, www.van-garde.com GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS ii CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? Editors’ Note PAUL NIHOUL NICOLAS CHARBIT ELISA RAMUNDO In this book, ten prominent authors offer eleven contributions that provide their varying perspectives on the subject of consumer choice: Paul Nihoul discusses how freedom of choice has emerged as a crucial concept in the application of EU competition law; Neil W. Averitt and Robert H. Lande provide a detailed argument that enforcement agencies should adopt consumer choice as a new paradigm for antitrust; Peter Behrens lays out the historical origin of consumer choice as a concept grounded in German ordoliberalism; Robert H. Lande, in another contribution, provides an updated argument for why the US antitrust agencies should adopt consumer choice as the new model for antitrust enforcement; Elisabeth de Ghellinck discusses how economists approach the idea of consumer choice; Joshua D. Wright and Douglas H. Ginsburg draw on economics to argue that an economic welfare standard should remain the governing paradigm in antitrust enforcement rather than consumer choice; Steven Anderman discusses how the concepts of consumer welfare and consumer choice are used in EU competition law to reconcile it with intellectual property law; Neil W. Averitt and Robert H. Lande, in another contribution, argue that consumer choice can be used as a principle for understanding and unifying competition and consumer protection laws; Neil W. Averitt, in another contribute, provides practical guidance on how consumer choice can be used to improve competition and consumer protection laws at the enforce- ment and remedial stages; J. Thomas Rosch discusses whether, or the extent to which, consumer choice can be used to facilitate convergence between US antitrust law and EU competition law; Maurice E. Stucke draws on insights from behavioral economics to highlight when more choice is better for consumers and when it is not. This volume offers readers an exhaustive and multifaceted discussion of the crucial concept of consumer choice and its relevance for modern competition law. The editors would like to give their sincere thanks to the ten authors for their hours of labor dedicated to this unique collection of articles. GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? iii Table of Contents Editors’ Note .............................................................................................. iii PAUL NIHOUL, NICOLAS CHARBIT & ELISA RAMUNDO PART I: Consumer choice in EU and national competition law “Freedom of choice”: the emergence of a powerful concept in European competition law ...........................................................................9 PAUL NIHOUL Using the “consumer choice” approach to antitrust law ..........................41 NEIL W. AVERITT & ROBERT H. LANDE The consumer choice paradigm in German ordoliberalism and its impact on EU competition law ................................................................ 123 PETER BEHRENS Consumer choice as the best way to re-center the mission of competition law ..................................................................... 153 ROBERT H. LANDE PART II: Consumer choice — different perspectives Consumer choice: an economic perspective ........................................... 167 ELISABETH DE GHELLINCK The goals of antitrust: welfare trumps choice ......................................... 185 JOSHUA D. WRIGHT & DOUGLAS H. GINSBURG GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? v Consumer welfare and consumer choice in the reconciliation of the conficts between competition law and IPRs .......................................... 205 STEVEN ANDERMAN Consumer choice: the practical reason for both antitrust and consumer protection law ......................................................................... 229 NEIL W. AVERITT & ROBERT H. LANDE How “consumer choice” can unify the felds of competition and consumer protection law ......................................................................... 253 NEIL W. AVERITT Can consumer choice promote trans-Atlantic convergence of competition law and policy? ................................................................... 265 J. THOMAS ROSCH When more is better and when less is more: behavioral antitrust and choice ....................................................................................................... 283 MAURICE E. STUCKE GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS vi CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? Contributors Steven Anderman Robert H. Lande University of Essex University of Baltimore Neil W. Averitt Paul Nihoul FTC:Watch University of Louvain Peter Behrens J. Thomas Rosch University of Hamburg US Federal Trade Commission Elisabeth de Ghellinck Maurice E. Stucke University of Louvain-la-Neuve University of Tennessee Douglas H. Ginsburg Joshua D. Wright United States Court of Appeals for the George Mason University School of Law District of Columbia Circuit GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? vii “Freedom of choice”: the emergence of a powerful concept in European competition law* PAUL NIHOUL [email protected] Professor of Antitrust Law, University of Louvain President, Academic Society for Competition Law I. Introduction Is Europe engaging on a path that will lead to the transformation of its competition policy? In the last few years, the European Commission has adopted landmark decisions bringing to the foreground a concept that had so far gained limited attention—the concept of choice, that is, the possibility, and the right, for customers to choose freely the products/services best corresponding to their needs, and the economic partners they want to deal with. * This article frst appeared, with minor differences, in Concurrences, n°3-2012, pp. 55-70. It is reproduced with the authorization of the Publisher. GO TO TABLE OF CONTENTS CHOICE – A NEW STANDARD FOR COMPETITION LAW ANALYSIS? 9 “Freedom of choice”: the emergence of a powerful concept in European competition law This new approach has not been limited to decisions issued by the Commission but has also been adopted by the European courts, i.e., the General Court (GC) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which, within the European Union (EU), have the highest authority to interpret European law, including the rules of competition. The consequence of this development may be the radical transformation of the justi- fcations used by European institutions to explain their decision to intervene, or not, in given cases. This new approach is analyzed in this essay, which is divided into three parts. In Part II, the essay examines cases where the emerging trend appears with the highest clarity. In Part III, it considers whether that trend remains exceptional or whether it can claim some basis in earlier cases and can be established in all the relevant provisions dealing with competition law. In Part IV, the new approach is discussed as regard to its substance. II. An emerging trend 1. Leading case: France Télécom In Europe, the rules of competition are enshrined in the Treaties of the European Union that were concluded by the Member States and that organize the modalities of coex- istence between the Member States. As in the United States, these rules are formulated in general terms—thus permitting interpretation by the European Commission which, in many regards, designs the policy carried out in the name of competition, under the guidance and supervision of the European courts. This situation signals the importance of the case law when it comes to analyzing what competition policy is about in the European Union. Traditionally, this case law is divided into three categories depending on the type of behavior adopted by companies and challenged by authorities. One category concerns monopolization—called “abuse of dominance”
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