Competition Policy after 1992: The Next Step
| Author | Tim Frazer |
| Published date | 01 September 1990 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1990.tb01829.x |
| Date | 01 September 1990 |
Competition Policy after
1992:
The
Next Step
Tim
Frazer”
Introduction
With the single market now on the horizon, the concepts and aims
of
competition policy should
be clearly spelled out in order to define effectively its contribution as part
of
a broader policy.’
This demand was made by the Economic and Social Committee (‘ECOSOC’) in its Opinion
on the EC Commission’s
Seventeenth
Report
on
Competition
Policy.
The Opinion called
for a competition policy that is predictable and precise in the interests of transparency
and legal certainty. Further, ECOSOC warned that if the basic principles of competition
policy are too removed from the ‘everyday concepts of the people
of
Europe’ it will lose:
its ability to create a genuinely internal market.*
The Opinion of ECOSOC raises important questions concerning the nature andl
development of competition policy in the post-1992 era:
(1) How may we define the objectives of competition policy in a single European market?
(2)
Should competition policy be restricted to certain economic models or is it of
a
(3)
Whatever the concepts or aims of policy, is it possible or even desirable to formulate
These questions become pertinent if it
is
felt that the completion of the internal market
will change the political and economic environment to such an extent as to require a change
in the emphasis and enforcement of competition policy. Many
commentator^,^
as well
as the Commission4 and ECOSOC, take the view that the completion
of
the internal
market will require a re-examination of the basis of EEC competition policy. There is
also a widely held belief that the most appropriate model for that re-examination is the
Chicago-based neoclassical model, as developed by the enforcing agencies, some courts
and many influential commentators in the United States.
In this paper, an assessment is made of the impact on the competitive environment
of
the formal ‘completion’ of the internal market at the end of 1992. Consideration is then
given to the capacity of Articles
85
and
86
to
serve purposes other than their present ones.
Certain models are then considered as possible bases for competition policy in the internal
market.
constitutional or socio-political nature?
policy in a precise way, as required by the ECOSOC Opinion?
The Changing Economic Environment
There are several views on the characteristics of the post-1992 competitive environment.
One is that prices will be reduced, especially in markets which have been locally concen-
trated, innovation and other efficiencies will be enhanced and competition will intensify.
A second view is that a reduction in monopoly profits through intensified competition
*University
of
Newcastle upon Tyne.
1
2
3
4
Economic and Social Committee,
Opinion
on
the 17th Report
on
Competition Policy,
1989
OJ
C 71.
See Hovenkamp, ‘Chicago and its Alternatives’ (1986) Duke
LJ
1014 on the
danger
of economic modelling
departing from social consensus.
For example, Green, ‘Article
85
in Perspective’ [I9881 ECLR
190,
206.
See
Seventeenth Report
on
Competition Policy
(Brussels: Commission of the European Communities,
1988) point
2.
The
Modem Law Review
535
September
1990
0026-7961
609
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