IGIR & Competition
Competition law is designed to foster fair competition, benefiting both consumers and industry innovation. However, competition law faces internal tensions, such as conflicting objectives (like efficiency versus the internal market), and external tensions with other areas of public or private regulation (such as sustainability and product regulation). These tensions are not only present at the national level but also have regional and international dimensions, with different jurisdictions adopting different approaches to competition law.
In the competition research cluster, we examine the internal and external tensions that competition law encounters. Our focus is particularly on the convergence - or lack thereof - of competition policy instruments, practices, and cooperation across different jurisdictions. By identifying best and worst practices, we aim to enhance competition law and its application both nationally and internationally.
Focus
The research methods applied in this research cluster include Law & Economics and Comparative Law (focusing on the EU, the US and China). Using these methods, recent topics in competition law and policy are examined, with a special focus on sustainability & competition and innovation & competition.
The goals of competition law to some extent differ between jurisdictions and may change over time (due to political, economic or social developments). This provides many opportunities for comparative and economic research, not only in traditional competition law domains like abuse of dominance and merger control, but also in the domain of EU State aid policy. Competition law also plays a role in relation to the ‘trust in trade’ concept, either by promoting such trust, or by creating conflicts related to the extraterritorial application of competition rules.
Besides our focus on competition law as a separate field of law, we also aim to analyse the inherent tension between competition law and (public and private) regulation. For example, regulation may have been formulated with the aim of solving particular market failures or to reach a specific goal defined by the policymaker, but the chosen form of regulation may be conflicting with competition rules. Again, comparative and economic research can be helpful in addressing questions such as which regulatory instrument is best placed to address a market failure with limited impact on competition.
Team
The senior researchers involved in this cluster have many years of experience writing on topics in the domain of competition and regulation, particularly from a law & economics and comparative perspective. They include Michael Faure, Qian Li, Niels Philipsen, Kristel de Smedt, Kalpana Tyagi, several PhD researchers (see below under projects) and Iwan Bos (SBE).
For questions about the IGIR & Competition cluster, please contact Niels Philipsen.
Projects
With IGIR & Competition, we are conducting several projects, including the following:
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