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George Zohios, Feb 05, 2009
While recognizing the need for a general reform of the implementation of EC competition rules, it would appear that the type of reform proposed by the Commission through its Guidance does not seem to solve the problems. The European enlargement set new standards and posed major challenges for the European institutions and all Member States. Consequently, the Commission’s efforts should focus on the promotion of cooperation among Member States in order to achieve legal certainty, rather than taking the risk of causing further confusion, discrepancies, and dissimilarities in the application of Competition law by Member States in the new enlarged European environment. Legal certainty and a common approach by NCAs and the Commission are prerequisites for the implementation of the Commission’s objectives to decentralize the application of EC Competition Law. These goals could be better fulfilled by adopting clear Guidelines, hand-in-hand with binding and consistent legislation that will ensure uniformity and coherence not by attempting to reform hard law (case-law) through soft law (Guidance).
