In numerous fields of law, ranging from family law to company law, private actors increasingly set their own rules, revert to private enforcement of those rules and choose the applicable law. Within each field this tendency has already been scrutinised. Until now, however, few attempts have been made to look at these phenomena together with a view to arriving at conclusions that go beyond one specific field. This book is a first attempt to fill this gap. It is relevant for scholars and practitioners working in the individual fields of law covered (private international law, company law, family law, consumer law and commercial law) as well as for scholars and policy makers trying to grasp the overall nature of the increasing privatisation of the law.

The book examines the rights of defendants in infringement procedures and those of the notifying parties in merger proceedings before the European Commission and the Chinese competition authorities. The initial chapters offer a general introduction to EU and Chinese competition law respectively, paying particular attention to the substantive rules of competition law. Subsequent chapters present an overview of the procedural rights of the notifying parties in merger cases in both legal systems surveyed, address the procedural rights of defendants in infringement cases, and provide an international perspective on differences in the notification and enforcement procedures between legal systems. The final chapter draws comparative conclusions and includes a number of suggestions for improvement.

This timely book examines the field of European and global standardisation, showing how standards give rise to a multitude of different legal questions. Each chapter offers in-depth analysis of a number of key policy areas such as food safety, accounting, telecommunications and medical devices. These multi-disciplinary contributions go beyond the field of law, and provide cross-disciplinary comparisons. Demonstrating how standards enter the European legal system in a variety of ways, the book studies their relevance for public and private law alike. While the trade advantages of using standards in regulation are undeniable, the contributors elucidate how standard-setting processes have departed from the purely private realm to enter the stage of public regulation. This inevitably raises the issue of whether standardisation is supported by sufficient legitimacy guarantees. The contributions provide valuable insights to answering this question, highlighting cross-cutting reflections on the topic, and case studies on specific policy areas. This analytical book will be of interest to students and scholars researching in the fields of EU and global standardisation, EU law and trade law. It will also be a useful resource for practitioners focusing on regulation and standardisation. Contributors include: D. Bevilacqua, M. Cantero Gamito, C. Cauffman, P. Cuccuru, M. De Bellis, M. Eliantonio, M. Faure, M. Gerardy, C. Glinski, N. Philipsen, S. Roettger-Wirtz, P. Rott, S. Schoenmaekers, L. Senden, B. Van Leeuwen, A. Volpato

This open access book offers a comparative and inter-disciplinary perspective on the unique competition law challenges presented by the converged digital markets. Following the digitalisation of even the most traditional brick and mortar sectors of the economy, a well-functioning internal market can only be guaranteed by ensuring the competitiveness of the digital markets. What role do intellectual property law and competition law play in this digital world? How can a more economic analysis strengthen innovation policies to achieve a truly competitive digital single market? The book provides a rigorous discussion of the many reasons why the regulatory responses, not just in Europe, but in other jurisdictions too, may fall short. It addresses an array of procedural, substantive, and other issues that are generating intense debate across the antitrust community. This includes the scope and objectives of digital regulation, whether the application of ex-ante rules would result in fragmentation and inconsistencies, and whether such regulatory regimes are an appropriate tool for substantive assessment. The book explores whether the application of these rules would effectively tackle the competition enforcement challenges seen under the competition laws, whether they can be applied without undermining other rights such as privacy, and whether they are appropriate for this digital age as well as the new digital era ahead of us. Part 1 offers a detailed inter-disciplinary perspective on the most recent legislative solutions in the European Union, namely, the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Data Act. Part 2 offers competition and regulatory responses to these ever-emerging digital challenges by the UK, Latin American, Indian and Chinese regulators. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

The book examines the rights of defendants in infringement procedures and those of the notifying parties in merger proceedings before the European Commission and the Chinese competition authorities. The initial chapters offer a general introduction to EU and Chinese competition law respectively, paying particular attention to the substantive rules of competition law. Subsequent chapters present an overview of the procedural rights of the notifying parties in merger cases in both legal systems surveyed, address the procedural rights of defendants in infringement cases, and provide an international perspective on differences in the notification and enforcement procedures between legal systems. The final chapter draws comparative conclusions and includes a number of suggestions for improvement.