Competition Law Challenges in the Next Decade

Sofia Oliveira Pais is a Professor of EU Law and Competition Law at Católica Porto School of Law, Catholic University of Portugal, where she also directs the PhD Course and the Research Centre for the Future of Law - Porto. She holds a Jean Monnet Chair linked to the project «Current and future challenges of European Integration» and she is the author of several books on European Law and Competition Law.

In the European Union, competition law has expanded and matured, assuming a key role in the promotion of consumer welfare, economic progress and public interest in general. Nevertheless, several issues remain open. Should the European Union remain faithful to antitrust public enforcement or fully consider the complementary role of private enforcement? Are the European solutions concerning exclusionary abuses coherent and predictable? What role should National Competition Authorities play in the context of State Aid? This book attempts to analyse and discuss some open, selective questions concerning three particular topics on competition law that are becoming highly relevant in the European and national praxis: antitrust private enforcement, exclusionary abuses and state aid. To address these issues, two seminars and international conferences, supported by the European Commission, took place at Católica Porto School of Law, Catholic University of Portugal, in March 2014 and March 2015. This publication includes the papers presented in those events, which gathered well-known and respected scholars and practitioners in the field of competition law, leading to a productive debate about EU competition law challenges in the next decade.

This publication is based on two seminars and international conferences that took place at Porto Law School, Catholic University of Portugal in March 2014 and March 2015, with the support of the European Commission, in order to contribute to a productive debate about the challenges of European Competition law in the next decade.

Content: António Ferreira Gomes: Competition law: achievements and challenges - Sofia Oliveira Pais: Antitrust private enforcement and collective redress in Portugal - Petri Kuoppamäki: Reflections on damage actions - the Asphalt case - Anna Piszcz: Is this really a reform to facilitate follow-on actions for antitrust damages? - Henrique Sousa Antunes: Private enforcement of competition law on trial - two study cases - Agostinho Guedes: Actions for damages under Portuguese Law for infringements of the competition law - Paul Nihoul: Upside down: The EU jurisprudence on aftermarkets - Alison Jones: Distinguishing legitimate price competition from unlawful exclusionary behavior - Rosa Greaves/Svetlana Nasibyan: Exclusionary abuses: refusal to license intellectual property rights - Rita Leandro Vasconcelos: Remedies and Article 102 TFEU - Manuel Fontaine Campos: The evolution of the «effects on trade» and «distortion of competition» requirements under the EU State aid regime - Mariana Tavares: The hard side of soft power - the Portuguese Competition Authority recommendation to the Government on stranded costs in the electricity sector - Isabel Fernández Torres: Competition in the aviation sector: the problem with public financing of airports and airlines - Nuno Castro Marques: The Portuguese Development Financial Institution and State aids.