Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

Appropriate knowledge of European Union law.

The EU competition law course aims at deepening the students’ knowledge on one of the EU’s key policies, which plays a crucial role in every Country’s political and economic agenda, as well as in firms’ strategic choices. In this context, lectures are directed at providing the students with a baggage of knowledge which will be of paramount importance for the activities that they will exercise after university, being them in academia, international law firms, judiciary or firms’ legal departments.

In line with the purposes outlined above, the course will not be directed at the acquisition of competition law’s traditional notions, but it will be structured for the purpose of offering students the opportunity of deepening issues characterised by a more practice and economic matrix, which will be fundamental in the students’ future professional career, such as IP and competition law or digitalisation and competition law.

As a result of the EU competition law lectures, students should achieve the learning objectives outlined below:

• understanding the policy objectives of competition law, also from a comparative perspective (e.g., EU v. US);
• understanding competition law key economic foundations;
• understanding and critically interpreting competition law legislative provisions (TFEU, Sherman Act, EU Member States’ provisions), also from a comparative perspective;
• understanding and critically interpreting the most relevant judicial decisions in the competition law field (in particular, understanding the evolution of the ECJ’s judicial praxis);
• understanding and critically examining decisions issued by several competition Authorities;
• being able to sustain discussions on competition law issues, also by defending a thesis;
• critically identifying competition concerns in the context of “non traditional markets” (with special regard to digital markets);
• gaining a multidisciplinary knowledge of subjects interacting with competition law (with special regard to IP law);
• understanding which behaviours may prove critical for competition law and identifying the proper solutions, as may be required in the students’ future professional career;
• gaining a prospective view on competition law issues, by critically identifying the subjects’ weaknesses and, consequently, the possible reforms needed.

Lectures will take place both in person and in streaming. Supporting material is availalbe  on the teaching platform (Moodle, please enroll in the platform by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page).

Students will also have the opportunity to take actively part to the lectures by presenting – subdivided in groups – some of the most important EU, US and national competition law cases, as assigned by the Professor.

Students will also have the opportunity to benefit from lectures held by external experts. In particular, reference is made to a seminar on distribution agreements and competition law and to lectures dealing with the specific issue of digitalisation and competition law.

It is essential and compulsory that all students enroll in the teaching platform to have full access both to materials, discussions and communications.

Students will be required to sustain a written exam, consisting in two open questions about the issues examined during the lectures (90 minutes).

In addition, students will have the opportunity to refer – subdivided into groups – on some of the most relevant competition law cases. 

For any question please contact the convenor Cristina Poncibò at 

cristina.poncibo@unito.it 

The course examines EU competition law in a political, economic and comparative context.

The aim of the course is that of providing a rounded account of EU competition law’s various dimensions, of its crucial place in EU market integration project and of its relevance for the enforcement of antitrust principles worldwide.

In particular, the course will analyse in deep the following topics:

• competition law’s foundations both from a policy and an economic perspective. The origins of competition law in the EU and in the US;
• cartels: Analysis of Article 101 TFEU and the related case law, both on horizontal and vertical restraints. Reference will be also made to the correspondent EU Member States’ provisions and to Section 1 of the Sherman Act;
• abuse of dominant position: Analysis of Article 102 TFEU and the related case law. Reference will also be made to the correspondent EU Member States’ provisions and to Section 2 of the Sherman Act;
• state aid
• competition law and the challenges of digitalisation: Analysis of the issues raised by digital gatekeepers and discussion on both the decisions issued by competition Authorities and the relevant legislative initiatives and proposals;
• competition law and distribution agreements: A specific 4-lectures seminar on the topic will be held by a Professional in this field;
• Pprivate enforcement of competition law: Discussion on the advances made by means of Directive 104/2014 and the challenges still opened (e.g., collective redress, third-party funding).

In general, students can find all the relevant legislative documents on the EuUCommission's DG Competition's website: http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/legislation/legislation.html

In addition, students can find all the ECJ cases examined during the lessons by means of the ECJ's website search tool, available at https://curia.europa.eu/juris/recherche.jsf?oqp=&for=&mat=or&jge=&td=%3BALL&jur=C%2CT%2CF&dates=&pcs=Oor&lg=&pro=&nat=or&cit=none%252CC%252CCJ%252CR%252C2008E%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252Ctrue%252Cfalse%252Cfalse&language=en&avg=&cid=2542747