“Convergence of National Competition Laws. The Cases of Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands”

Drahos, Michaela. (1999) “Convergence of National Competition Laws. The Cases of Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands” . In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1999 (6th), June 2-5, 1999, pages 38, Pittsburgh, PA.

Abstract

My paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, I will discuss some theoretical aspects of convergence and the influence of European integration thereupon. Section 3 includes an outline of the most important elements of competition policy. In Section 4, I will describe the most important differences of the original national competition laws of Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands in the 1950s on the one hand, and the European anti-trust rules, on the other hand. In Section 5, I will discuss to what extent the European institutions laid pressure on the Member States to adapt their national competition laws. In Section 6 I will deal with the national reactions to this pressure. In the conclusion I will come back to my theoretical framework and discuss the consequences of my empirical study for it.