Commssion's Guidance on Article 82 - May 11 Brussels

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

On 3 December 2008, the Commission released a long awaited “Guidance Notice on its enforcement priorities in applying Article 82 of the EC Treaty to exclusionary abuses conduct by dominant undertakings”. This document, which has been presented as the closing chapter of the Commission’s Article 82 EC review, purports to provide greater clarity and predictability in Article 82 enforcement. However, the Guidance Notice leaves a number of issues unanswered and raises, in and of itself, a host of new questions. The purpose of this half-day conference is to offer a forum for debate on the most pressing issues arising from the Guidance Notice.

13:45‐14:00 Registration and Coffee

14:00‐14:15 Welcome Remarks and Purpose of the Event
Dr. Nicolas PETIT
Lecturer, University of Liege
Director of the LL.M in Competition and IP Law
Associate, Howrey LLP

14:15‐14:45 General – and Critical – Overview of the Guidance Notice
Robert O’DONOGHUE
Brick Court Chambers

14:45‐15:15 How much more Economic is the New Approach?
Dr. Anne‐Lise SIBONY
Lecturer, University of Liege
Co‐director of IEJE

15:15‐15:45 Consumer Welfare as a Priority as opposed to an Objective
Dr. Liza LOVDAHL GORMSEN
Lecturer, London School of Economics

15:45‐16:15 Efficiency Defences prior and after the Guidance Paper
Dr. Ekaterina ROUSSEVA
Case handler, DG COMP

16:15‐16:35 Coffee break

16:40‐17:10 Is the Guidance Notice on Article 82 EC a Suitable Instrument for Liberalized Markets?
Laurent DE MUYTER
Jones Day
Research fellow, ULg

17:10‐18:10 Panel Discussion – What are the “Likely Effects” of the Guidance Notice?
Moderator Jean‐François BELLIS
Partner, Van Bael & Bellis
University of Liege and University of Brussels
Participants Carles ESTEVA‐MOSSO [TBC]
Acting Director, DG COMP
Lars KJOLBYE
Partner, Howrey LLP
Jean‐Baptiste SIPROUDHIS [TBC]
Head of the Competition Law Group, EDF

18:10 Cocktail
Register for the event in the attached pdf.
Download Programme - The Commssion's Guidance on Exclusionary Abuses - 11 May 2009 - Brussels