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ARTICLE · 01 OCTOBER 2013

Towards A More Sustainable Use Of Commitment Decisions In Article 102 TFEU Cases

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Almost 10 years after their formal introduction into EU competition legislation, commitment decisions appear to have become the European Commission's enforcement tool of choice when resolving abuse of dominance cases.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law

By Yves Botteman* and Agapi Patsa

Almost 10 years after their formal introduction into EU competition legislation, commitment decisions appear to have become the European Commission's enforcement tool of choice when resolving abuse of dominance cases. This article explores the reasons underlying the European Commission's increasing reliance on commitments to conclude Article 102 TFEU investigations and analyses the detrimental effects that a commitment-based enforcement policy may have on EU competition law. The article concludes that time may be ripe for the European Commission to introduce a more comprehensive legal framework for the use of commitment decisions, in order to ensure the more sustainable recourse to the commitment procedure and the safeguarding of EU antitrust enforcement altogether.

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