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Liza Lovdahl-Gormsen, Apr 15, 2008
The question that is the title of this article is very topical as the five-year anniversary of the initiation of the Commission’s June 2003 internal policy review of Article 82 EC approaches. The answer to the question is currently unknown at least to this author. This short contribution does not predict the future, but presents an educated guess. First, it sets the state of play in the modernization process: what has gone before and how far along are we. Second, it questions the aim of guidelines. In other words, what is the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG Comp) trying to achieve by issuing guidelines in this area of law? While this may not be all that clear, an answer may be available in DG Comp’s Discussion Paper on the Application of Article 82 of the Treaty to Exclusionary Abuses in December 2005. Third, it examines whether some recent case law or policy statements give any indications as to whether guidelines are the way forward. Finally, it looks at implications. Not implications of guidelines as DG Comp has yet (if ever) to issue guidelines, but the implications of issuing guidelines as opposed to not issuing guidelines. Download the entire article available in the column on the left.
