Bellamy & Child: European Community law of competition, 5th ed.

Book abstract:

This fifth edition of Bellamy and Child's reliable guide for practitioners of European antitrust law comes twenty- eight years after the publication of the first edition. In this latest edition the book adopts a more economically oriented approach as opposed to legalistic, reflecting the changes in EC competition law since the last supplement to the fourth edition was published in 1997. The impact of the Treaty of Amsterdam and the European Convention on Human Rights is also considered.

The Community context of EC competition law is discussed in chapter one with thorough coverage of the historical background, the institutional structures, the EC Treaty, sources of EC Competition law and the aims of the Community rules on competition.

The next three chapters focus on the different components of Article 81 with emphasis on agreements, restrictions, the territorial ambit of Article 81(1), individual and block exemptions, and common horizontal agreements.

Chapters five to eight examine different aspects of competition law: joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, vertical agreements and intellectual property rights.

Article 82 is the subject of chapter nine with a discussion of its relationship with Article 81 and the Court of Justice's term 'dominant position'.

The next three chapters examine the enforcement of competition rules with specific emphasis on the role of the Member States, the process of notification and the Commission's powers to investigate and enforce the rules.

The role of the state in regulated industries is assessed in chapter thirteen with specific reference to Article 86, state monopolies and military equipment.

Competition regulation in four policy areas is analysed in the next four chapters with coverage of the telecommunications, transport, energy, coal and steel and agriculture industries.

The final chapter of the book examines the position of state aids in competition law.

The book is published in two volumes, one of which is comprised solely of appendices, providing texts of relevant article sof the EC Treaty, Regulations, Directives, Notices and Guidelines.

The editor, Peter Roth, is a leading QC in competition law.