The course will examine the EC competition law provisions that apply to State anticompetitive practices. In particular, the course will focus on the State aids control in the European Union and on the application of EC competition law to public undertakings and undertakings operating services of general economic interest.

The course covers the following topics

• Introduction: The limits of competition law applying to state action: competition law and public policy
  
• State aids control I & II: the fundamentals
  
• State aid law in times of crisis: an economic perspective
  
• State aid control III: State aid control and the tax system
• Case study in State aid control
• Looking back and forth: The transformation of state aids law and policy: from applied politics to applied economics?
  
• State aid control IV: Enforcement of State aids law
  
• Types of state action and competition law assessment: setting the framework
  
• Article 86(1)
• Article 86(2) / Conclusion
  

Taught by Dr Ioannis Lianos (UCL), Kelyn Bacon (Brick Court Chambers), Abel Mateus (former President of the Portuguese Competition Authority), Conor Quigley (Brick Court Chambers) and Jorge Padilla (LECG Europe)

When:
Tuesdays, 3-5pm, and some Wednesdays, 6-8pm
11 x 2 hours tuition
January 2010 - March 2010

This series of 7 lectures form part of the full course "Competition Law and the State in Europe" but cover only the state aid topics from that course:

• State aids control I: the fundamentals
  Wednesday 20 January - 6-8pm
• State aids control II: the fundamentals
  Wednesday 27 January, 6-8pm
• State aid law in times of crisis: an economic perspective
  Tuesday 3 February, 3-5pm
  
• State aid control III: State aid control and the tax system
  Wednesday 10 January, 6-8pm
• Case study in State aid control
  Tuesday 16 February, 3-5pm
• Looking back and forth: The transformation of state aids law and policy: from applied politics to applied economics?
  Tuesday 23 February, 3-5pm
  
• State aid control IV: Enforcement of State aids law
  Tuesday 9 March, 3-5pm
  

Taught by Dr Ioannis Lianos (UCL), Kelyn Bacon (Brick Court Chambers), Abel Mateus (former President of the Portuguese Competition Authority), Conor Quigley (Brick Court Chambers) and Jorge Padilla (LECG Europe)

The aim of the course is to examine the emergence of a European competition system interlinking EC competition law and the competition laws of the different Member States of the European Union focusing on the enforcement of competition law at the European Union and national level and on the competition law regimes of selected EU Member States (e.g. UK, France, Germany).

The recent “modernisation” of European competition law (Regulation 1/2003) and the importance accorded to private enforcement of competition law in Europe change dramatically the centralised system of the previous regulation 17/62, which provided the foundations of European competition law enforcement during the last forty years.

The course will fully integrate a comparative law and economics approach in analyzing the new system of enforcement of European competition law through the lenses of the optimal enforcement theory, choice of law theories and game theory. More specifically, Part I of the course will examine the framework of competition law enforcement at the European Union level (public, private enforcement, arbitration). Part II of the course will examine the competition law regimes of important EU Member States (such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy). In particular, the focus will be on (1) how EC competition law is interpreted and enforced by the national competition authorities and courts, and (2) in what respect the Member States’ national competition law regimes find different (or similar) solutions to EC Competition law.

Taught by Dr Ioannis Lianos (UCL) and Dr Florian Wagner-von Papp (UCL)

When:
Wednesdays: 9am - 11am
11 x 2 hours tuition
January 2010 - March 2010

LAW AND ECONOMICS OF REGULATED INDUSTRIES: BETWEEN COMPETITION AND REGULATION

The course examines the legal and economic principles involved in the analysis of the traditional regulated industries (e.g. telecoms, energy) in Europe, the United States and other selected jurisdictions.

• History of Regulated Industries – Common law – evolution to regulation, theories of regulation, rationales
• Choice between public private ownership, intermediate forms (PPP)
• Liberalization of Energy and Telecommunications/ Deregulation movement (EU, US, UK)
• Regulatory process: institutional design of regulatory agencies in Europe and the US, judicial review
• Economics of public utilities: market structure and competition : competition in the market (market power regulation), competition for the market (auction theory)
• Regulating overall price level: revenue requirements of regulated firm (cost of service, price caps, revenue caps, US/EU/British approaches)
• Tariff Design: apportioning the burden of utilities revenue needs among customer classe
• Subsidizing access: Universal service in the European Union and the United States
• Regulating access: entry, interconnection, optimal access pricing
• Regulation and Competition law
• Global issues and comparisons (developing economies and regulation, international aspects)

Taught by Dr Ioannis Lianos (UCL)

When:
Thursdays: 2-4pm
11 x 2 hours tuition
January 2010 - March 2010