Everyone recognizes that competition is the process by which companies are induced to offer consumers the lowest prices and introduce innovations to earn higher profits. Antitrust enforcement should focus on real competition problems, on behaviour that has actual or likely restrictive effects on the market, and which harms consumers; it should be aimed at protecting competition and not competitors. A real revolution in the application of European competition law took place with the modernization package implemented in the last few years, involving the now-decentralized application of Articles.
Note
Proceedings of the first Lisbon Competition Law and Economics Conference, that took place at Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, 3-4 Nov. 2005. 1st Lisbon Conference on Competition Law and Economics, Lissabon, 3-4 november 2005. Lisbon Conference on Competition Law and Economics.
Formatted Contents Note
I. Antitrust enforcement: the modernisation package; II. Investigation powers when enforcing competition law: EC regulation 172003 and National competition laws; III. Competition, regulatory costs, market imperfections and competitiveness; IV. Competition and regulatory costs: the case of Portugal; V. The judicial review of the European Commission's merger decisions: the jurisprudence of the European courts; VI. The new merger regulation; VII. Modernisation of article 82 of the EC treaty; VIII. Competition and regulation.