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European competition law promotes the maintenance of competition within the European Union by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies to ensure that they do not create cartels and monopolies that would damage the interests of society. With a history that traces back to the prohibitions on the restraint of trade, and influenced by the experience of the United States Sherman Act 1890 and the Clayton Act 1914, European competition law today derives mostly from articles 101 to 109 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as well as a series of Regulations and Directives. Four main policy areas include: *Cartels, or control of collusion and other anti-competitive practices, under article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). *Market dominance, or preventing the abuse of firms' dominant market positions under article 102 TFEU. *Mergers, control of proposed mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures involving companies that have a certain, defined amount of turnover in the EU, according to the Merger Regulation〔(139/2004/EC )〕 *State aid, control of direct and indirect aid given by Member States of the European Union to companies under TFEU article 107 This last point is a unique characteristic of the European competition law regime. As the European Union is made up of independent member states, both competition policy and the creation of the European single market could be rendered ineffective were member states free to support national companies as they saw fit. A 2013 Civitas report lists some of the artifices used by participants to skirt the state aid rules on procurement.〔(civitias.org.uk: "Gamekeeper or poacher? Britain and the application of State aid and procurement policy in the European Union" (Garskarth) March 2013 )〕 Primary authority for applying competition law within the European Union rests with European Commission and its Directorate General for Competition, although state aids in some sectors, such as transport, are handled by other Directorates General. The Directorates can mandate that improperly-given state aid be repaid, as was the case in 2012 with Malev Hungarian Airlines.〔("Hungary’s Malev Airline Ordered by EU to Repay State Support" 9 January 2012 )〕 ==History== One of the paramount aims of the founding fathers of the European Community - statesmen around Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman - was the establishment of a Single Market. To achieve this, a compatible, transparent and fairly standardised regulatory framework for Competition Law had to be created. The constitutive legislative act was Council Regulation 17/62 (now superseded). The wording of Reg 17/62 was developed in a pre ''Van Gend en Loos'' period in EC legal evolution, when the supremacy of EC law was not yet fully established. To avoid different interpretations of EC Competition Law, which could vary from one national court to the next, the Commission was made to assume the role of central enforcement authority. The first major decision under Article 101 (then Article 85) was taken by the Commission in 1964.〔(64/566/CEE: Décision de la Commission, du 23 septembre 1964, relative à une procédure au titre de l'article 85 du traité (IV-A/00004-03344 «Grundig-Consten») ) 〕 They found that Grundig, a German manufacturer of household appliances, acted illegally in granting exclusive dealership rights to its French subsidiary. In ''Consten & Grundig'' () the European Court of Justice upheld the Commission's decision, expanded the definition of measures affecting trade to include "potential effects", and generally anchored its key position in Competition Law enforcement alongside the Commission. Subsequent enforcement of Art 101 of the TFEU Treaty (combating anti-competitive business agreements) by the two institutions has generally been regarded as effective. Yet some analysts assert that the Commission's monopoly policy (the enforcement of Art 102) has been "largely ineffective",〔See, Cini & McGowan〕 because of the resistance of individual Member State governments that sought to shield their most salient national companies from legal challenges. The Commission also received criticism from the academic quarters. For instance, Valentine Korah, an eminent legal analyst in the field, argued that the Commission was too strict in its application of EC Competition rules and often ignored the dynamics of company behaviour, which, in her opinion, could actually be beneficial to consumers and to the quality of available goods in some cases. Nonetheless, the arrangements in place worked fairly well until the mid-1980s, when it became clear that with the passage of time, as the European economy steadily grew in size and anti-competitive activities and market practices became more complex in nature, the Commission would eventually be unable to deal with its workload.〔See Gerber & Cassinis〕 The central dominance of the Directorate-General for Competition has been challenged by the rapid growth and sophistication of the National Competition Authorities (NCAs) and by increased criticism from the European courts with respect to procedure, interpretation and economic analysis.〔See Wallace & Pollack〕 These problems have been magnified by the increasingly unmanageable workload of the centralised corporate notification system. A further reason why a reform of the old Regulation 17/62 was needed, was the looming enlargement of the EU, by which its membership was to expand to 25 by 2004 and 27 by 2007. Given the still developing nature of the east-central European new market economies, the already inundated Commission anticipated a further significant increase in its workload. To all these challenges, the Commission has responded with a strategy to decentralise the implementation of the Competition rules through the so-called ''Modernisation Regulation''. EU Council Regulation 1/2003 places National Competition Authorities and Member State national courts at the heart of the enforcement of Arts 101 & 102. Decentralised enforcement has for long been the usual way for other EC rules, Reg 1/2003 finally extended this to Competition Law as well. The Commission still retained an important role in the enforcement mechanism, as the co-ordinating force in the newly created European Competition Network (ECN). This Network, made up of the national bodies plus the Commission, manages the flow of information between NCAs and maintains the coherence and integrity of the system. At the time, Competition Commissioner Mario Monti hailed this regulation as one that will 'revolutionise' the enforcement of Arts 101 & 102. Since May 2004, all NCAs and national courts are empowered to fully apply the Competition provisions of the EC Treaty. In its 2005 report, the OECD lauded the modernisation effort as promising, and noted that decentralisation helps to redirect resources so the DG Competition can concentrate on complex, Community-wide investigations. Yet most recent developments shed doubt on the efficacy of the new arrangements. For instance, on 20 December 2006, the Commission publicly backed down from 'unbundling' French (EdF) and German (E.ON) energy giants, facing tough opposition from Member State governments. Another legal battle is currently ongoing over the E.ON-Endesa merger, where the Commission has been trying to enforce the free movement of capital, while Spain firmly protects its perceived national interests. It remains to be seen whether NCAs will be willing to challenge their own national 'champion companies' under EC Competition Law, or whether patriotic feelings prevail. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「European Union competition law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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