Stefan Thomas- Professor (Full) at University of Tübingen
Stefan Thomas
- Professor (Full) at University of Tübingen
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101
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
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Publications
Publications (101)
We lay out a roadmap for how the legislator could create a framework of ‘sustainability corridors’ that would allow relying on the ancillary restraints/Wouters doctrine to make antitrust law more accommodating of sustainability considerations. Our analysis goes beyond the general feasibility of such corridors. It discusses different use-cases for s...
Traditionally, competition law and practice serve to preserve competition, with a focus on the maximization of consumer welfare. This has been criticized as conflicting with society's overarching goal of achieving greater (environmental) sustainability. Consequently, various jurisdictions have recently reformed their laws and guidance allowing them...
Zusammenfassung
Der Referentenentwurf zur 11. GWB-Novelle aus dem September 2022 schlägt vor, dem Amt mit § 32f RefE-GWB die Befugnis zu weitreichenden Verfügungen bis hin zur Entflechtung zu geben, um Wettbewerbsstörungen zu beseitigen, die aus Sicht des Amtes bestehen, obwohl die Unternehmen sich rechtstreu verhalten. Im Gegensatz zum bisherigen...
The failure to fully internalize externalities from production and consumption, including on future generations, is supposed to be at the core of the perceived failure to ensure (ecological) sustainability within the realm of antitrust enforcement. While some argue that sustainability should constitute a goal in itself that must be balanced against...
1. Motivation
The European Commission has recently published its Draft Horizontal Guidelines (DHG).¹ A major novelty is the recognition of ‘sustainability agreements’ as a new category² (Chapter 9). This did not come as a surprise given the Commission’s own initiatives over the last 2 years³ and as various countries and national competition agencie...
Zusammenfassung
In seinem Urteil vom 13. April 2021 (KZR 19/20) hat sich der BGH im Rahmen von Schadensersatzklagen mit dem Instrument der Regressionsanalyse auseinandergesetzt und dabei drei Gütekriterien formuliert: eine hinreichend verlässliche Datengrundlage, die methodische Korrektheit sowie die Signifikanz der Ergebnisse. Wir gehen zunächst a...
I. Introduction
The European Commission and various national competition authorities presently undertake initiatives to explore whether and how to expand the scope for sustainability benefits. The Netherland’s competition authority has already published guidelines, whereas the EU-Commission’s revision of its Horizontal Guidelines has identified sus...
In this paper, we outline how a future change in consumers’ willingness-to-pay can be accounted for in a consumer welfare effects analysis in antitrust. Key to our solution is the prediction of preferences of new consumers and changing preferences of existing consumers in the future. The dimension of time is inextricably linked with that of sustain...
Our starting point is the following simple but potentially underappreciated observation: When assessing willingness to pay (WTP) for hedonic features of a product, the results of such measurement are influenced by the context in which the consumer makes her real or hypothetical choice or in which the questions to which she replies are set (such as...
This paper deals with collusive risks that can result from the ecosystems created by digital platforms. Recent case reports reflect that the potential for harm and benefit can be tightly interwoven here. It is not entirely clear, however, in what way the creation of a platform can, in itself, amount to a breach of the cartel prohibition, and how th...
The paper starts from the assumption that there is a body of case-law on the German, the European Union (EU) level, and on the international level that is characterised by strategies of judicial avoidance. Courts for various reasons sometimes avoid deciding the substantive legal issues advanced by the parties to a conflict or put before them as a l...
Critical observers state that current antitrust policies fall short of addressing the wider societal implications of a market economy, inter alia in merger control. The interests of employees in decent wages, merger impacts on the environment, or the pursuit of a governmental industrial policy are claimed to deserve recognition beyond the tradition...
I. Motivation
In this article we refer to common ownership as various shareholders, notably index funds, holding minority stakes, typically far below a threshold that would be indicative of control in terms of Article 3 EUMR¹, in different firms in the same relevant market. US agencies still appear reluctant about the idea of challenging mergers ba...
The current debate on the competitive risks of common ownership has focused on whether passive index investments soften competition among portfolio companies. However, even if one concedes, in arguendo, that this is the case, it remains unclear in what way this bears on the analysis of horizontal mergers between portfolio companies. The EU Commissi...
The traditional legal approach for distinguishing between illicit collusion and legitimate oligopoly conduct is to rely on criteria that relate to the means and form of how rivals interact, such as elements of “practical cooperation”, or on the finding of an anticompetitive intent. These criteria ultimately refer to the inner sphere of natural pers...
The European Court of Justice holds that a concerted practice is established if firms substitute a "practical cooperation" for the risks of competition. The problem with this definition is that cartel conduct is a non-cooperative game in terms of game theory. Neither cartel agreements nor non-explicit collusion involve enforceable contracts. The "p...
The volume „Aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Fusionskontrolle zwischen Recht, Wirtschaft und Politik“ deals with the challenges of merger control in Germany and Europe in an increasingly globalised and digitalised world. It contains the speeches and protocols given at the conference (1. Kölner Kartellrechtsgespräche of April 13, 2018). With contributi...
The paper starts from the assumption that there is a significant body of case-law on both the national, European and international level that is characterised by strategies of judicial evasion. Courts for various reasons tend to avoid deciding the substantive legal issues advanced by the parties to a conflict or put before them as a legal question...
Zusammenfassung
Die Ministererlaubnis beruht zu Recht auf dem Dogma, dass es sich bei ihr nicht um eine Fehlerkorrektur der kartellamtlichen Entscheidung handelt, sondern mit den gesamtwirtschaftlichen Vorteilen bzw. dem überragenden Interesse der Allgemeinheit – zusammenfassend: Gemeinwohlgründen – ein anderer Prüfungsmaßstab gilt als der reine We...
Zusammenfassung
Das Kartellschadensersatzrecht der EU-Richtlinie und der beiden letzten GWB-Novellen ist geprägt vom Paradigma der Follow-on-Klage nach Erlass einer Abstellungs- oder Bußgeldentscheidung. Sinnbild hierfür ist die gesetzlich angeordnete Feststellungswirkung in § 33b GWB (§ 33 Abs. 4 GWB a. F.). Kartellschadensersatzansprüche sind ind...
On 22 March 2017, the Commission released its Proposal for a directive to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers (COM(2017) 142 final). With this effort to harmonise national public enforcement regimes, the Commission enters uncharted territory. Effectiveness is deemed to be fostered by the introduct...
This article establishes the thesis that the notion of "significant" in the SIEC test of the European Merger Control Regulation lacks a clear legal concept in the current decisional practice. Antitrust economists and authorities have developed a set of theories of harm and have constantly refined them. Yet these theories often do not explain when c...
Zusammenfassung
Die kartellrechtliche Beurteilung von Gemeinschaftsunternehmen ist durch die wettbewerbliche Doppelwirkung von Konzentration einerseits und Kooperation andererseits geprägt. Die effizienzfördernden und wettbewerbsbeschränkenden Wirkungen solcher Kooperationen bedürfen daher einer Einzelfallprüfung. Das gilt insbesondere mit Blick au...
Zusammenfassung
Die Auswirkungen von unternehmerischer Nachfragemacht auf den Wettbewerb und die Verbraucher sind ambivalent. Einerseits kann Nachfragemacht zu geringeren Einkaufspreisen führen, die den Konsumenten zugute kommen. Andererseits kann sie als ein Mittel zu Verdrängung kleinerer Konkurrenten mit geringerer Nachfragemacht auf nachgelager...
Der Nachweis von Kartellschäden erweist sich in der Praxis oft als schwierig, weil sich der hypothetische Wettbewerbspreis vielfach nicht genau ermitteln lässt. Deshalb stellt sich die Frage, inwieweit Kunden in ihre Lieferverträge Schadenspauschalierungen für den Fall aufnehmen können, dass sich ihr Lieferant an einem Kartell beteiligt hat. Proble...
This paper considers the effects of buyer power under the antitrust laws. It focuses on EU antitrust law, namely Article 102 TFEU and the EU Merger Control Regulation, while taking into account the stance of US antitrust law. Recent investigations of several European antitrust authorities in the grocery sector have expressed concerns that concentra...
Zusammenfassung
Kapitalmarktrechtlich kann nach dem Verbot der Marktmanipulation des § 20a WpHG das sog. cornering problematisch sein. Darunter versteht man die Erlangung einer Kontrolle über das Angebot eines bestimmten Wertpapiers, etwa durch Erwerb einer Mehrheitsbeteiligung. Dies kann dem Mehrheitsaktionär in Verbindung mit bestimmten Erwartung...
Zusammenfassung
Bei der Abgrenzung von Angebotsmärkten steht das Konzept der Nachfragesubstituierbarkeit im Vordergrund, das auch als Bedarfsmarktkonzept bezeichnet wird. Weniger Beachtung findet vielfach die Erkenntnis, dass die Grenzen des relevanten Marktes ferner durch die Angebotsumstellungsflexibilität von Unternehmen bestimmt werden, was zu...
The analysis of unilateral effects in horizontal mergers — especially on markets for differentiated goods — can take into consideration the extent to which the merging firms are close competitors. The elimination of a close competitor can result in an upward pricing pressure (UPP) on the merged firm which can harm consumers. Although a quantitative...
Bigness as such is not an offence in the EU. Nonetheless, in several EU- and Non-EU-jurisdictions there exist powers to order the breaking up of large firms if this is deemed necessary to remedy adverse effects on competition even if they were not created by an unlawful merger or by abusive behaviour of a dominant firm. This raises the question whe...
Die Frage nach dem Zweck des Kartellrechts zu stellen, ist im Zuge des sogenannten more economic approach unumgänglich geworden. Dienen die Wettbewerbsregeln in erster Linie dem Schutz individueller Freiheit oder primär der Effizienzsteigerung? Wenig beachtet wurde bislang, daß sich die Antwort auch auf die rechtsstaatliche Legitimierung der Sankti...
Die Frage nach dem Zweck des Kartellrechts zu stellen, ist im Zuge des sogenannten more economic approach unumgänglich geworden. Dienen die Wettbewerbsregeln in erster Linie dem Schutz individueller Freiheit oder primär der Effizienzsteigerung? Wenig beachtet wurde bislang, daß sich die Antwort auch auf die rechtsstaatliche Legitimierung der Sankti...
The economic entity doctrine allows the Commission to fine a parent company if its subsidiary has infringed the competition rules. In such cases, the Commission holds the subsidiary and the parent jointly and severally liable. The EU Courts have acknowledged this sanctioning concept as based on an interpretation of the notion of “undertaking”. Yet...
Zugl.: Mainz, Universiẗat, Diss., 2003/2004.
