EU competition law

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This subtopic provides an overview of EU competition law. It is aimed at lawyers who need a high level overview of the legal framework and key issues, and who are not specialised in Competition Law. For in-depth practical guidance on EU competition law, see the Competition Law practice area (subject to subscription).

EU competition regulation

The European Commission, in particular the Commission's Directorate-General for Competition known as 'DG Comp', is the main EU regulator tasked with enforcing and supervising EU competition law. It investigates and takes action against particular types of behaviour, for example cartel activity and dominant companies trying to leverage their market power. It also investigates merger cases.

There are four principle areas of EU competition law:

  1. •

    the prohibition on anti-competitive agreements under Article 101 TFEU

  2. •

    the prohibition on the abuse of a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU

  3. •

    merger control under Regulation 139/2004, the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR), which requires the prior notification of transactions that meet the required thresholds to the European Commission

  4. •

    the prohibition on illegal State aid under Articles 107–109 TFEU, where a Member State provides

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