Introduction: the structural issues of competition analysis

This book provides a systematic and critical presentation of the key conceptual issues of restrictive agreements by means of doctrinal analysis and comparative law. It engages in both positivist (doctrinal) and evaluative (normative) analysis. The purpose of the positivist-doctrinal analysis is to conceptualize the case law as it is, including its paradigmatic changes and apparent contradictions. This strand of the analysis offers a doctrinal account and a positivist conceptualization and goes into the intricacies of the various questions of interpretation, such as the categories of anticompetitive object, the delimitation of object and non-object agreements, borderline and recently emerged or emerging categories (information exchange, patent settlements, etc), the analytical framework of effects-analysis, and the consideration of general societal values. The evaluative part is the critical strand of the work, which involves an assessment of the system and proposals as to how it may optimally contribute to competition law’s function and goals.