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The Competition Policy of the European Community: a Conference Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Extract

IN A FIERCELY CONTESTED GAME OF FOOTBALL OR RUGBY THE job of the referee is both essential and unenviable. On such occasions, whilst the players will appreciate the importance of the rules of the competition, the incentive to break them can be overwhelming. This is a specific instance of a more general case: the higher the stakes in any competition, the greater the need for a good referee to ensure that the game is played fairly.

Much more significant competition takes place between the industries of the member states of the European Community, and indeed of the rest of the world, for the custom of the Community's markets. It is important to note that the European Community is still far from achieving a truly common market across all the member states, as free from non-tariff barriers as it is already from tariffs. Competition policy in Europe has two referees, national enforcement bodies and the European Commission. This paper is concerned only with the Commission, which has responsibility for matters of competition between the member states.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1983

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References

1 What follows represents the author’s understanding of the proceedings, rather than a verbatim report.

2 The participants were: Mr F. H. J. J. Andriessen, Commissioner of the European Communities; Mrs Liliana Archibald, Lloyd’s; Mr P. Beazley, MEP; Mr W. D. Bishop, LSE; Sir Gordon Borrie, Director General of Fair Trading; Sir John Buckley, Oppenheimer International Ltd; Mr Caspari, Director General of the Competition Department, Commission of the European Communities; Mr N. Clive, former Counsellor OECD; Mr M. Day, Department of Industry; Dr Wolfgang Deuker, EP; Mr A. Durand, University of Buckingham; The Rt Hon. Baroness Elles, MEP; Mr V. Fean, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Mr B. J. Feder, New York Times London Bureau; The Rt Hon. Sir Ian Gilmour, MP; Dr A. H. Hermann, Financial Times; Dr B. Hindley, LSE; Mr W. J. Hopper, MEP; Professor G. Ionescu, President, IPSA Research Committee on European Unification; Mrs R. Jones, LSE; Mr John Kay, Institute for Fiscal Studies; Mr G. Knight, Department of Trade; Mr W. Knighton, Department of Trade: Mr N. Kirke, Distillers’ Company; Mr J. Leeming, Department of Industry; Mrs R. Smellie, University of Manchester; Mr G. Mason, CBI; Mr G. Mather, Institute of Directors; Mr J. McCluskey, Department of Employment; Dr R. Morgan, Head of European Centre for Political Studies; Professor V. Morgan, University of Reading; Mr K. M. Newman, Overseas and European Office, House of Lords; Sir David Nicholson, MP; Miss J. Pearce, Royal Institute of International Affairs; Mr J. Pinder, Director, Policy Studies Institute; Professor A. Prest, LSE; Mr Van Rhijn, Commission of the European Communities; Mr I. C. Sargeant, Philip Morris (Europe): Mr Thomas Sharpe, Institute for Fiscal Studies; Mr Frank Sharratt, solicitor; Mr R. Sheaf, Commission of the European Communities; Mr M. Smart, Department of Employment; Mr J. N. T. Spreckley, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Mr Nicholas A. H. Stacey, Chairman, Chesham Amalgamations and Investments Ltd; Miss Wilhelmina Steyling, journalist; Mr John P. S. Taylor, European Parliament; Mr R. M. Thomas, ICI; Mr David Vaughan, QC: Mr Van Voorst tot Voorst, Deputy Chef de Cabinet, Commission of the European Communities; Mr M. Welsh, MEP; Professor Lawrence White, Director of the Economic Policy Office, Antitrust Division, US Department of Justice; Mr White, Commission of the European Communities; Professor R. Williams, University of Manchester; Mr D. von Winterfeldt, Hoechst UK Ltd; Dr Enid Wistrich, Middlesex Polytechnic; Mr E. Sistrich, Director of the European Movement.

The rapporteurs were: Mr F. H. J. J. Andriessen, Professor L. White, Mr W. J. Hopper, Mr W. Knighton and Mr J. Pinder. The chairmen of the sessions were: The Rt Hon. Sir Ian Gilmour, MP, The Rt Hon. Baroness Elles, MEP, Sir Gordon Borrie, Professor A. Prest and Professor G. Ionescu.