Programme content
TRAINING
The course is taught in Brussels, a leading world of competition policy.
Brussels is the seat of the European Commission, the European competition authority. It is also home to many major Belgian and foreign companies, as well as the Belgian competition institutions and most of the legal and consulting firms specialising in this area. This makes Brussels a focal point of demand for training and expertise (know-how) in competition law.
OBJECTIVES
The first key objective is to offer competition law practitioners a serious and full upgrade of their knowledge.
The second one is to train legal advisers in companies, administrations and other economic operators so as to enable them to reduce the risk of infringing competition law.
PROGRAMME
The programme is entirely taught in English and divided into 10 modules and 3 clinical seminars. With 13.5 hours for each module and with 4.5 hours for each clinical seminar, the programme seeks to offer the strongest possible training in the various disciplines of competition policy. Most modules are taught by both a lawyer and an economist in order to convey the multidisciplinary content of competition policy.
Modules
Module 1 - General introduction to competition law and economics
- Practical importance of competition law
- Macro and micro economic effects of competition policy
- Perfect competition, monopoly and oligopoly (Cournot and Bertrand)
- The relevant market, market definition, the hypothetical monopoly test
- Market power (incl. measurement techniques), market concentration, barriers to entry/expansion
- The cellophane fallacy and other common fallacies
- Overview of the competition rules and their history
- The German ordo-liberal school
- The market integration ethos
- Institutions, enforcement and procedures
- Relationship between EU and national competition law
- Effect on trade between Member States
- The concept of undertaking
- Extraterritorial application of EU competition law and the effects doctrine
- Case studies
Module 2 - The law and economics of cartel agreements
- Collusion and leniency in economic theory
- Economic and historical background of cartel enforcement
- Types of cartel practices
- Administrtive procedure
- The leniency programme
- Fines and limitation periodes
- Parental liability and other imputability issues
- Judicial review in cartel cases
- The settlement procedure
- International cooperation in cartel cases
- Case studies
Module 3 - The law and economics of horizontal cooperation agreements
- Joint ventures - general issues
- Principles of analysis under Art. 101 TFEU
- Exchange of information agreements
- R and D agrements
- Production agreements
- Purchasing agreements and buyer groups
- Commercialization agreements
- Standardization/standard terms generally
- Standardization/IPR-related issues
- The specific example of airlines alliances
- Estimation of follow-on damages
Module 4 - The law and economics of vertical restraints
- Introduction to the new Vertical Block Exemption Regulation 2022/720 and the new Vertical Guidelines
- Common features (notion of agreements, market share, threshold,...)
- Exclusive distribution
- Non-exclusive distribution
- Selective distribution
- Franchising
- Resale price maintenance
- Active and passive sales
- Agency
- On-line distribution
- Single branding, upfront access payment and category management
- Vertical coordination (double marginalization, retail services, free riding, commitment problem)
- Inter-brand versus intra-brand competition
- Workshops
Module 5 - The law and economics of merger control
- Adoption of the EUMR
- Application of the EUMR
- Pillars of EU merger control
- Comparison with U.S. merger control law
- Evolution of EU merger control
- Notion of concentration
- EUMR jurisdiction and division of powers with Member states
- Market definition under the EUMR
- SIEC test and the economic fundamentals of merger control
- Horizontal mergers
- Vertical mergers
- Conglomerate mergers
- Failing firm
- Efficiencies
- Evidentiary principles, standard of proof, checks and balances
- Types of evidence: merging parties' documents, witness statements, consumer surveys, quantitative evidence, etc.
- Remedies: divestitures, severance of links with rivals, other remedies
- Jidicial review, damages, expedited procedure, appeals to EU Courts
Module 6 - The law and economics of abuse of dominance
- Dominance
- History of article 102 TFEU - Exploitation v. Exclusion
- The effects-based approach
- The concept of abuse, general considerations
- Predatory pricing
- Rebates
- Refusal to deal
- Margin squeeze
- Price discrimination
- Tying/bundling
- Abuse of collective dominance
- Other abusive practices
- Case studies
Module 7 - The law and economics of State aid
- Brief historical and economic background
- The notion of State aid: legal concept v. economic theory
- State aid administrative procedure (European Commission procedure)
- Judicial review (EU and nationale courts)
- Compatibility assessment of State aid: the centre role of economic theory - the balancing test
- Compatibility assessment of State aid: focus on rescue and restructuring aid (including financial crisis measures), Covid-19 crisis an its phasing out, Ukraine Temporary Crisis Framework, regional aid and climate, energy and environmental aid
Module 8 - The procedural and institutional framework of EU competition enforcement
- DG COMP and other relevant Commission organs
- Decentralisation under Regulation 1/2003, the role of NCAs and of national judges
- Infringement decisions and remedies
- The settlement procedure
- Interim measures
- Withdrawal of block exemptions
- Commitments, voluntary ajustments, inapplicability, etc.
- Informal guidance
- Fines
- Appeal before the C.J.E.U.
- Annulment proceedings
- Failure to act
- Actions for damages
- Case studies
Module 9 - Competition law and the regulation of network industries
- Regulation and regulatory theory: Why regulation (legal, political and economics reasons) ?
- Market opening reforms and basic components of regulation: EU liberalisation policy
- Institutions of regulation (Commission, national regulatory agencies)
- Energy regulation (gas and electricity)
- Electronic communications regulation
- Price regulation
- Access price regulation, vertical separation and investment
- Universal service and Internet neutrality
- Application of competition policy to electronic communications markets: margin squeeze, cartels, mergers
- Application of cocmpetition law to energy markets: abuse, agreements, mergers
- Relationship between competition law and regulation
- Case studies
Module 10 - EU competition law and intellectual property
- Economic rationale for the protection of intellectual creations
- Various types of IPRs and their respective regulatory frameworks
- Alternative instruments to encourage innovation
- Use and abuse of IP rights, including IP Licensing practices and compulsory licensing
- Competition Law and IP in ICT and platform markets
- Cumulative innovations, hold-up and tragedy of the anti-commons
- Standard-setting, network effects and licensing
- The pharmaceutical sector inquiry and patent settlements
Clinical seminar
Seminar 1 - Competition compliance
- The challenge of compliance in practice
- Added value of a compliance programme
- The process of designing a compliance programme?
- Do's and don'ts
Seminar 2 - Competition and arbitration
- Arbitrability and public policy
- Duty for arbitrators to raise competition law issues
- Arbitration as an appropriate tool to litigate private damages claims
- Unenforceability defense in contract litigation
- Relevance and weight of decisions issued by competition authorities in arbitration proceedings
Seminar 2 - Competition law and digital platforms
- Distintive features of digital platforms
- Challenges for competition law
- Analysis of the leading competition precedents involving digital platforms
- the Digital Markets Act and other regulatory proposals
ASSESSMENT
Students will be assessed at the end of each module via an individual "take-home exam" (e.g. case studies, multiple choice questionnaire, etc.) to be returned two weeks later. The exam is usually available a few days after the end of the module. Clinical seminars are not formally assessed.
As part of the certificate, each student must write a short dissertation of 25-30 pages. The topic of the dissertation may be related to the student's day-to-day professional practice. Where possible, dissertations must cover both the legal and economic aspects of competition law.
Dissertation topics must be submitted to, and approved by, the BSC Board in consultation with the team of professors in charge of the relevant module. If two or more similar topics are submitted for approval, topics will be attributed on a first come, first served basis.
In order to obtain the Interuniversity certificate in Competition Law, students must:
- enrol for the full programme (10 modules + 3 clinical seminars)
- pass the 10 exams and get the mark of at least 10/20 for each module
- obtain a mark of at least 10/20 on their dissertation
Added value
Unique defining features
- It offers practical training, thanks to experienced contingent of competition lawyers, economic consultants and senior officials;
- It provides high-level lectures taught by outstanding academics;
- It embraces a moderne approach to training, fully refleting the interdisciplinary nature (law and economics) of competition policy;
- It proposes a flexible training programme compatible with the requirements of professional practice;
- It gives its students opportunities to socialise and meet fellow competition professionals on a regular basis.
Learning outcomes
Compétences acquises à l'issue du programme
Une connaissance approfondie du Droit de la concurrence, dans ses aspects théoriques (économie industrielle notamment), pratiques (procédure contentieuse et non contentieuse, procédure administrative et judiciaire), et politiques (enjeux de la décision publique). L'ensemble des domaines de la matière sont maîtrisés à l'issue du programme. Un accent est aussi placé sur le Droit national de la concurrence, selon la nationalité des enseignant·e·s.