Consumer welfare

 Consumer welfare refers to the individual benefits derived from the consumption of goods and services. In theory, individual welfare is defined by an individual’s own assessment of his/her satisfaction, given prices and income. Exact measurement of consumer welfare therefore requires information about individual preferences.

Source: OECD

Abuse of dominance, AI, Consumer welfare, Data protection, Digital, Digital competition, Digital economy, Digital markets

(Católica Global School of Law) and (University Villanueva, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Europe has been a frontrunner in the regulation of artificial intelligence on a global scale. The adoption of the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) defines one – despite important – step of the puzzle of European policy on AI. After the adoption of the Council last week, such an ambitious approach is still surrounded by…

Competition law, Consumer welfare, Feminism

(University of Amsterdam)/ /Leave a comment

In 2021, an insightful interviewer asked Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for competition law and policy, whether it was “time for a feminist antitrust policy”. The interviewer noted that “feminist policy has been used to denote not just gender equality, but an approach that is more inclusive of all underrepresented people”. In her answer, Vestager set…

Consumer welfare, Economics, Financial markets, National competition authorities (NCAs), Switzerland

, (KU Leuven)/ /Leave a comment

The collapse of Crédit Suisse and its subsequent takeover by UBS has produced far-reaching effects, affecting the global banking landscape. Financial stability considerations and market turmoil surrounding the takeover have been widely discussed in the media. Other perspectives, however, have received relatively little attention. In this blog post, we consider a number of competition law…

Abuse of dominance, Advantage, As Efficient Competitor, Burden of Proof, Competition proceedings, Consumer welfare, Discrimination, Electricity, European Court of Justice, Italy, National competition authorities (NCAs), National court

(University of Brescia)/ /Leave a comment

Facts and court proceedings Before the start of the liberalization process in 1999 with Legislative Decree 79/1999 (“Decreto Bersani”), the Italian electricity market was run singlehandedly by the Ente Nazionale Energia Elettrica (Enel), born with the nationalization of electricity in 1962. As the former Italian legal monopolist, Enel was integrated into all stages of the…

Consumer protection, Consumer welfare, European Union, Unfair competition, Unfair practices

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium) and (Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /1 Comment

In many jurisdictions, antitrust authorities enforce not only antitrust and competition laws, but also consumer protection rules, which may apply to similar conduct.  Not so in the European Union (EU).  The European Commission’s (Commission’s) Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) enforces EU antitrust rules alongside Member State authorities, coordinating their activities through the European Competition Network…

Consumer welfare, European Commission, European Union

(Sidley Austin LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On April 11, 2018, the European Commission published a proposed new EU law as part of a package of consumer protection measures. The proposed new law would introduce the first Europe-wide consumer class action system, exposing companies in a broad range of industries to new risks with potentially huge financial implications. The proposed new law…

Consumer welfare

(Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection)/ /Leave a comment

Sharing economy firms are disrupting traditional industries across the globe. As Tom Goodwin once put it: “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something…

Consumer welfare, Germany

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

The second part of the blog on the FCO’s background paper on “Competition and Consumer Conduct – Conflict or Parallelism between Consumer Protection and Antitrust Law?” covers the interplay between consumer and competition protection and their legal tools in practice, including recent and potential future developments. (For the first part on the general principles please…

Consumer welfare, Germany

(Heinz & Zagrosek Partner mbB, Germany)/ /Leave a comment

The Federal Cartel Office (FCO) held a conference with antitrust experts (professors and judges) on October 6. 2016, on “Competition and Consumer Conduct – Conflict or Parallelism between Consumer protection and Antitrust Law?” As part of the conference, the FCO published a background paper on the same topic, available in German, see http://www.bundeskartellamt.de/DE/UeberUns/Veranstaltungen/ArbeitskreisKartellrecht/arbeitskreiskartellrecht_node.html I. Background…

Canada, Consumer welfare

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /1 Comment

Mark Katz and Alysha Manji Introduction Since its arrival in Canada in 2012, Uber has generated heated discussion among affected interests, notably the established taxi industry, regulatory bodies overseeing the industry, and municipal and provincial governments responsible for putting the existing regulatory frameworks into place. In an effort to stave off the impact of its…