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Vertical Restraints in EC Competition Law: New Dynamics

13 October 2009–14 October 2009, 9:45 am–5:45 pm

Event Information

Open to

All

Organiser

Centre for Law, Economics & Society

Location

Bentham House, Bloomsbury, London

The reform of EC competition law on vertical restraints has marked the beginning of the process of transformation of EC competition law in the late 1990s, in particular because of the adoption of a more compatible to neoclassical economic theory approach. Almost ten years since the adoption of Regulation 2790/99 and the vertical restraints guidelines, the European Commission has initiated a revision process and has published some proposals at this respect.

The aim of this conference would be (a) to understand the process of the reform of EC competition law on verticals, (b) to provide some useful comparative insights, by looking to the most recent developments in US antitrust law on verticals as well as the most recent competition law practice in some Member States� and selected jurisdictions and (c) to critically assess the proposals of the European Commission, by confronting them to recent economic theory and to legal practice.

The conference was of particular importance to the UCL community as it honours Valentine Korah, emeritus professor of competition law at UCL and visiting professor to a number of leading academic institutions around the world. Professor Korah is an authority in EC competition law on vertical restraints and has published the leading monographs and commentaries on this topic.
Read about Professor Valentine Korah.

Conference programme

SESSION I: ARTICLE 81 AND GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE REFORM
Chair: 
Philip Collins (OFT)

 The Scope of Article 81(1)
Ioannis Lianos (UCL)
 
 The Scope of Article 81(3)
Giorgio Monti (LSE)
 
 The other verticals: relation with Article 82 jurisprudence
John Kallaugher (Latham & Watkins, UCL)
 
 The other verticals: motor vehicle regulation 
  

SESSION II: ROUNDTABLE
A RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE OF THE VERTICAL RESTRAINTS REFORM 

Chair: 
Sir Christopher Bellamy (Linklaters LLP)

Participants:

 Valentine Korah (UCL) 
 Lucas Peeperkorn (European Commission, DG Competition) 
 Ian Forrester QC (White & Case) 
 Bill Kovacic (US Federal Trade Commission) 
 Richard Whish (King’s College London) 
  

SESSION III: INTERNET DISTRIBUTION AND VERTICAL RESTRAINTS

Chair: 
Richard Whish (King�s College London)

 Speakers:
Denis Waelbroeck (Ashurst, Free University of Brussels)

 
 Stephen Kinsella (Sidley Austin) 
 Discussant: 
Andrea Appella (News Corp.)
 
 Antonio Bavasso (Allen & Overy, UCL) 
 

SESSION IV: TYING / BUNDLING

Chair: 
Judge Nicholas Forwood (European Court of First Instance) 

 Speakers:
Tying, Bundled Discounts, and the death fo the single monopoly profit theory
Einer Elhauge
 (Harvard University)


 
 Tying Revisited
Jorge Padilla (LECG)
 
 Matthew Bennet (OFT) 
 Discussants:
Cristina Caffarra (CRA International)
 
 Can Bundled Discounting Increase Consumer Prices Without Excluding Rivals?
Daniel Crane
 (University of Michigan School of Law, Ann Arbor)
 
 

 

SESSION V: ROUNDTABLE:
RESALE PRICE MAINTENANCE
 

Chair: 
Valentine Korah (UCL)

 Participants:
RPM: An EU Perspective
Lucas Peeperkorn (European Commission, DG Comp.)


 
 Resale Price Maintenance
Warren Grimes
 (Southwestern University)

 
 Resale Price Maintenance: Analysis of Agreements
Alison Jones 
(Kings College London)

 
 Discussants:
Aidan Robertson QC (Brick Court Chambers)
 
 Thibaud Vergé (CREST-LEI (Paris))  
  

SESSION VI: ROUNDTABLE
EXCLUSIVE TERRITORIES AND PARALLEL TRADE 


Chair:
Professor Brenda Sufrin (University of Bristol)

 Speakers:
Eric Gippini Fournier (European Commission, Legal Service)
 
 Assimakis Komninos (Hellenic Competition Commission / UCL) 
 Jose Luis Buendia (Garrigues LLP) 
 Discussants:
Christopher Stothers (Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy LLP & UCL)
 
 

Okeoghene Odudu (University of Cambridge)

 
 

SESSION VII: ROUNDTABLE
VERTICAL RESTRAINTS AND THE RISE OF RETAILER POWER: COMPETITION LAW AND ALTERNATIVES 


Chair:
Peter Freeman (UK Competition Commission)

 Participants:
Some economics of vertical restraints in a world of retailer power
Michael Waterson 
(Warwick University)


 
 Unchallenged Market Power?
The Tale of Supermarkets, Private labels and Competition Law 
Ariel Ezrachi
 (Oxford)


 
 Power Buyers AndThe U.S. Antitrust Laws
Irving Scher 
(Greenberg Traurig, LLP)

 
 Discussant:
Ioannis Lianos (UCL)
 

 

SESSION VIII:
VERTICAL RESTRAINTS IN COMPARATIVE COMPETITION LAW AND INTERNATIONAL CONVERGENCE


Chair:
Dr Philip Marsden (BIICL, OFT)

 Participants:
UK experience on verticals
Mark Clough QC (Addleshaw Goddard)


 
 Vertical restraints in France
Laurence Idot (University of Paris II Panthéon Assas)

 
 Vertical restraints in Germany
Florian Wagner von Papp (UCL) 

 
 Vertical restraints around the world: A comparative perspective
Daniel Sokol (University of Florida Levin College of Law)
 
 International aspects on vertical restraints
Maher Dabbah (Queen Mary, University of London)