Merger Policy and the EU: How Can the Airtours Decision Affect Minerals and Energy Markets?

摘要

In June 2002, the European Court of First Instance (CFI) released its judgment on the Airtours vs. the Commission case. The decision lowered the antitrust hurdles to merger and acquisition activity in Europe. Interest in the case is twofold. It makes the difference between EU and US antitrust law more distinct, and this difference is basically the capability (or lack thereof in the EU case) to handle the negative effects that occur in an oligopoly situation without any coordinated effects. This may have a profound effect on the way markets in antitrust cases are defined in the future. Cases in raw materials and energy markets are explored in some detail. The short-term effect could be an increasing focus on market definition to establish single dominance in more merger cases. The long-term effect of the Airtours decision will probably be that the EU abandons the current merger legislation and instead adopts an "Anglo-Saxon" view of mergers emphasizing the possible welfare effects.