Public lecture

Press release — 24 October 2012

Dr. Alexandr Svetlicini from the European University Institute (EUI), Florence (Italy) will give a public lecture on

Article 102 TFEU as a Tool of Market Regulation: ‘Excessive Enforcement’ Against ‘Excessive Prices’ in
the New EU Member States and Candidate Countries

on 1 November 2012, 12:00-14:00 at the Tartu University Faculty of Law, Näituse 20, room 217.

Contrary to the enforcement practice of the EU Commission, the national competition authorities (NCAs) of the new EU Member States and candidate countries have actively enforced Article 102 TFEU against excessive pricing, focusing on abuses in network industries and in economic sectors where the state has granted exclusive rights to private undertakings. In the absence of any EU guidance and scarce judicial review, the NCAs of these countries have not been consistent in applying the substantive standards and remedies in excessive pricing cases. In order to guide the NCAs and thus ensuring the harmonized application of EU competition law, the EU Commission should consider supplementing its 2009 guidance paper on exclusionary practices with the guidelines on exploitative abuses.

Alexandr Svetlicinii completed his PhD in EU competition law at the European University Institute (Florence) with the dissertation “Assessing non-horizontal mergers: The role of legal rules and integration of economic analysis”. He is visiting the University of Tartu on a CEURUS Visiting Scholarship for undertaking research. His research interests include: competition law (specifically in small market economies), business law, comparative private law and alternative dispute resolution. Dr. Svetlicinii is a frequent contributor of eCompetitions, European Competition Law Review, European Law Reporter, European Competition Law Handbook and Caselex. As a researcher, he has been involved in a number of projects concerning the implementation of the EU rules and policies in the legislation and practices of a number of jurisdictions including Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.

The lecture is organised by the Centre for EU-Russian Studies (CEURUS)