Competition and Consumer Law in the European Union: Evolution and Convergence

Summary:

This article argues that notwithstanding these basic parameters, there is a growing area of interaction that cuts horizontally across the two areas of law. The two areas will therefore be presented not as merely complementary but also as relatively convergent.

The article explores the evolution of and relationship between EU competition and consumer law and argues that a process of relative convergence seems to have taken place between the two, despite their notional separation. Convergence will be understood here as the result of processes of adaptive evolution whereby both areas of law have not only travelled towards some shared endpoints but have also moved closer along the way. In particular, five elements will be used to substantiate this claim.

Thus, we will consider the evolution of their objectives, their links with the internal market rationale, their integration pathways, their systems of enforcement, and the Court’s more recent classification of consumer and competition provisions as rules of public policy in the EU legal system. While the main aim of this paper is to map the convergence between these two areas of law, it will also briefly consider whether there are benefits in arguing for a more coordinated and holistic approach to these two key Union policies.