EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation & Antitrust: Eddy de Smijter DG COMP Lena Hornkohl Marek Martyniszyn

Показать описание

Eddy de Smijter – Head of foreign subsidies control unit, European Commission, Directorate-General for Competition
Prof. Lena Hornkohl, Professor for European Law at University of Vienna, Deputy Editor of Kluwer Competition Law Blog
Prof. Marek Martyniszyn, Professor of Competition Law and Policy at Queen's University Belfast

A new Foreign Subsidies Regulation is a very complex and very impactful piece of EU legislation situated thematically somewhere between competition and trade policies. It is applied to large foreign subsidies via the mechanism of mandatory notification – but also to (reasonably) any foreign subsidy by the Commission ex-officio.
The panel lasted for over 100 minutes but thanks to all three amazing contributors it was so easy-going, so thought-provoking and so knowledgeable, that time just flied. One can really learn a lot about this new – and indeed in many respects revolutionary – policy and I am confident colleagues (and definitely students) interested in the broader competition issues will enjoy it very much.
We have addressed many topics. Among the most important are:
– what is the largest EU industry affected by the FSR
– how many cases are being currently examined by the Commission
– the rationale behind the FSR
– what is the main reason for introducing such regulatory tool
– is regime centralised or de-centralised and why, what is the balance of competence between EU and Member States
– mitigating misbalance between EU and non-EU investments/subsidies
– are EU State Aid rules reversely discriminating
– relationship with FDI screening rules; trade policy; open strategic autonomy; EU & EUMSs industrial policy; national & EU security
– who are the main stakeholders, protagonists, beneficiaries and targets
– which directorates of the Commission and how many members of staff are working on FSR enforcement regime
– mechanics of communication between DG COMP and DG GROW
– possible discrepancy of visions between DG COMP and DG GROW
– how easy it is to circumvent foreign subsidy
– similarities and differences of anti-circumvention provisions in FSR & DMA
– are – and if yes how much and why – the interests of different EU Member States diverged in their reception of the FSR
– the grounds for intervening
– balancing test, efficiencies, exemptions…
– the response by different sectors/industries to the new rules
– which cases should be priorities and why
– theories of harm
– FSR and private enforcement
– similarities and differences of notification procedure with EUMR
– burden and standard of proof & compliance
– enforceability of the FSR in national courts
– hiding behind 3rd state compulsion
– investigatory competences
– remedies and commitments
– can a merger be prohibited because of illegal foreign subsidy
---------------------------
The Digital Markets Research Hub is an independent academic initiative aiming at scrutinising the functioning of competition/regulation in digital markets. We host one-to-one interviews with leading policymakers, regulators and practitioners. We also organise online mini-workshops inviting high-profile experts and academics in various fields of digital competition law & policy to discuss the most vibrant issues of the ongoing regulatory reforms in digital markets.
While having our clear normative stand on the matters discussed within the hub, we value different views and invite relevant stakeholders and thinkers representing the whole spectrum of reasonable positions on how to regulate competition in digital markets.
All our materials are available at YouTube channel, which you are very welcome to subscribe to.
The panel is organised & conducted by Prof. Oles Andriychuk, Newcastle Law School, UK