Underway Projects | SMK University of Applied Social Sciences

EC Competition Law and its Enforcement in the National Jurisdictions: Policy Issues, Case Law and Compliance

Title: EC Competition Law and its Enforcement in the National Jurisdictions: Policy Issues, Case Law and Compliance
Project type: Training of national judges in EC competition law and judicial co-operation between national judges Ref. no.: CFP2008
Promoter/coordinator: College of Social Sciences, Klaipeda, Lithuania
Duration: 1 year
Actual stage: in progress
Total value of the Contract: 106.780 Euros

Summary:
College of Social Sciences University of Applied Sciences together with its partner institutions is dedicated to initiate this project that is aimed to improve and strengthen professional skills and competence of judges and other people that fall into the target group (e.g. apprentice national judges, prosecutors, and academicians) in the area of competition law, in particular with respect to Articles 81 and 82 of the European Community Treaty. Indeed, the EU Competition Law is complex enough. Lithuania along with other Member States from Eastern and Central Europe joined the European Union in 2004, but the EC Competition law is still a “terra incognita” for many legal practitioners. The governments and private entities of EU Member States have to evaluate (from the perspective of competition law) important situations according to the national and EU Competition rules. The application of the EU competition law and its importance to the daily life will be presented during the target group training.

National authorities that are responsible for observing and implementing the EC competition rules in their countries have to abide by the EU precedents of case law and may not deviate from the created acquis communautaire. With this respect, national adjudicators still need more comprehensive analyses/materials to adopt rulings based on the contemporary developments of the EU competition law. The project will provide a good background for raising the professionalism and qualification of specialists that is important for achieving the quality and practical applicability in research activity of the institutions supervising competition law.

Aim and objectives:

The project is twofold.
First of all, training seminars are aimed to present a comprehensive view on the EC Competition Policy. The Lisbon strategy adopted in 2000 committed to make the EU „the world‘s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010“, but it is clear that those goals will not be achieved by this time. However, the EC Commission and the EU Member States should take a proactive approach so that to improve framework for competition by implementing the best practices from the other EC jurisdictions.

Secondly, the lecturers should familiarize primarily the judges with practical enforcement of the EC competition law in the EC Member States. Many EC Member States have fully implemented the EC Competition Law. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to achieve the unanimous interpretation of the same provisions of the EC Treaty. In this light, the case law of the European Court of Justice and the Court of the First Instance is highly relevant for the national judicial authorities; but, this case law remains often disregarded by national authorities partly because of ignorance, partly because of difficulties to understand fully a ruling passed in a foreign language.

Time and location of project activities:

The project will be undertaken together with the partners from Bulgaria and Romania so that to ensure the uniform application of the EC law in all the jurisdictions covered. Twofold training will be organized in Bulgaria, Romania and in three major Lithuanian cities. Final project conference will be organized in Vilnius; participants – representatives of all partner countries.

The partnership of the project is significant because it stimulates co-operation, during which the experts will be able to share their experience. The respective co-operation will contribute to the effective exchange of information about new cases, pragmatic solutions and recent EU statutory developments. Practically speaking, the exchange of such information is hardly possible via other resources currently available (partly because the judges would be reluctant to disclose officially particular circumstances of the case, partly because they are uneager to publish scientific articles not being completely sure about the accuracy of the information they possess, partly because of the work-load they have. Finally, most judges of Eastern and Central Europe did not have sufficient time to learn and become fully proficient in a foreign language. English, German or French or any other foreign language skills were not really relevant for the practical work of the judicial authorities in this region because of the uniqueness of each legal system. Therefore, judges still have limited capacities to analyze directly the arguments of the ECJ and other sources of the EU competition law. The possibility to get acquainted with judgments passed in different countries pertaining to the EU Competition law would contribute mostly to the correct use of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty on the national level. Eventually, the national case law would correspond more to the European developments as well.

To sum up, this co-operation offers an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the Competition law as applicable in the EU Member States.

Expected results:

102 trained target group members (from Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania) in 2-day-length (16 Hours) twofold training. Total training length - 160 hours.
Prepared and published on the internet training distributive material, which will be easily accessible to all users. Organized 2-day final project conference.
Prepared and published final conference collection of reports in 600 copies.

Partnership:

College of Social Sciences, Klaipeda, LT
University of Piteşti, RO
University “St. Kiril and Methodius” , Veliko Turnovo, BG

Interregional SME Supply Clusters along the Northeast Corridor

Project "Interregional SME Supply Clusters along the Northeast Corridor"

Project acronym: “BalticSupply”

Coordinator of the project: Senator for Economic Affairs and Ports, Bremen, Germany

Project partners from Lithuania:

Klaipeda Science and Technology Park,
Lithuanian Development Agency,
College of Social Sciences.

Description of the project

Background and problem: Small markets in the BSR and SME access barriers to European supply markets are key problems addressed by the project. They cause competitive disadvantages for Baltic SMEs and their regions compared to suppliers and regions acting in large regions.

Despite the 2004 adopted EU-package of directives on public procurement, designed to reduce the administrative burden and to make procurement systems more transparent and easier for SMEs and the “Small Business Act” for Europe (SBA) from June 2008, barriers are still effective, e.g. between BSR and NSR and other European areas.

Even under the single market industry-specific barriers and SME-specific barriers persist. BalticSupply seeks to encourage SMEs to be more innovative and to engage “in new sectors and niche markets”.

Objectives: BalticSupply will pursue an integrated and proactive approach to shaping the future of supply logistics and linked innovation policies and competitiveness promotion strategies in the BSR. The SME Supply Cluster concept is an innovative instrument for effective regional economic development and SME promotion in the BSR. BalticSupply intends to cooperate closely with the North Sea Supply Connect project, submitted in the parallel NSR Interreg IVB call. Objectives of the project:

1. Extend knowledge for better SME performance on Northeast (NE) European SME supply markets: * Relevant SME supply markets analysis *Guidelines for successful SME performance on supply markets *Electronic/print company registers (SME, OEM) *Electronic tender platforms;

2. Enhance competitiveness of Baltic SME on NE European supply markets: *SME training and innovation programmes *Electronic SME innovation partnership exchanges *Promotion of business opportunities;

3. Increase impact of regional economic/innovation policy on SME involvement in NE European supply markets: *3 interregional cluster management organisations *Interregional SME Supply Clusters as models for BSR-wide multiplication *Infrastructure and services facilitating SME innovation partnerships&training *Workshops&knowledge exchange networks for SMEs&OEM procurement managers *Political support for SMEs through involvement of politicians;

4. Promote NE European integration: *SME tender opportunities for Baltic SME in the NSR.

Partnership: The challenges to make procurement processes more transparent and accessible for SME’s are reflected within the partnership, where we involve public bodies, semi-public institutions like transfer centres and have support from business actors like Chambers of Commerce. Many SME development bodies are involved and allow bridging the gap which often is there between European projects and the private sector. The wide geographical spread and competence of the partners puts a special focus on SME development and with their knowledge ensures that Supply Chains contribute to strengthening the regional economy.

Activities and outputs: Project addresses the barriers of SMEs in large procurement processes from three sides:

BalticSupply focuses on 3 supply clusters of interrregional relevance: maritime, energy&public utilities and food&life-sciences,
establish with an virtual environment a “Company Register” which brings together SMEs presenting themselves for procurement processes and the demand side with large companies and public authorities,
offer training modules to reduce barriers on the SME side.

Results:

Enhanced capacity of SMES to participate in large procurement procedures,
cluster-specific networks of SMEs allowing them to jointly tender in supply logistics,
stabilisation of the respective economic tissue of the regions in the 3 cluster areas,
develop during the project time a model to continue the operation of the virtual environment beyond the BSR financial support.

The project contributes to European and pan-Baltic policies:

Lisbon A.: SME competitiveness will be improved through productivity gains from innovation, training and cooperation.
Gothenburg A.: Sustainability criteria will be applied by SME Supply Cluster management and be part of the training and innovation programme.
VASAB spatial policy objectives (see Wismar Declaration) are supported e.g. by the creation of interregional supply clusters and by the Corridor concept.
EU Strategy for the BSR (draft January 29, 2009): the project helps to overcome trade barriers within the BSR enabling SME to operate at interregional level and to enhance their innovation capacity.

Projects	Underway Projects
Underway Projects Implemented Projects Project Products Projects Partners Useful links Contacts	EC Competition Law and its Enforcement in the National Jurisdictions: Policy Issues, Case Law and Compliance Title: EC Competition Law and its Enforcement in the National Jurisdictions: Policy Issues, Case Law and Compliance Project type: Training of national judges in EC competition law and judicial co-operation between national judges Ref. no.: CFP2008 Promoter/coordinator: College of Social Sciences, Klaipeda, Lithuania Duration: 1 year Actual stage: in progress Total value of the Contract: 106.780 Euros Summary: College of Social Sciences University of Applied Sciences together with its partner institutions is dedicated to initiate this project that is aimed to improve and strengthen professional skills and competence of judges and other people that fall into the target group (e.g. apprentice national judges, prosecutors, and academicians) in the area of competition law, in particular with respect to Articles 81 and 82 of the European Community Treaty. Indeed, the EU Competition Law is complex enough. Lithuania along with other Member States from Eastern and Central Europe joined the European Union in 2004, but the EC Competition law is still a “terra incognita” for many legal practitioners. The governments and private entities of EU Member States have to evaluate (from the perspective of competition law) important situations according to the national and EU Competition rules. The application of the EU competition law and its importance to the daily life will be presented during the target group training. National authorities that are responsible for observing and implementing the EC competition rules in their countries have to abide by the EU precedents of case law and may not deviate from the created acquis communautaire. With this respect, national adjudicators still need more comprehensive analyses/materials to adopt rulings based on the contemporary developments of the EU competition law. The project will provide a good background for raising the professionalism and qualification of specialists that is important for achieving the quality and practical applicability in research activity of the institutions supervising competition law. Aim and objectives: The project is twofold. First of all, training seminars are aimed to present a comprehensive view on the EC Competition Policy. The Lisbon strategy adopted in 2000 committed to make the EU „the world‘s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010“, but it is clear that those goals will not be achieved by this time. However, the EC Commission and the EU Member States should take a proactive approach so that to improve framework for competition by implementing the best practices from the other EC jurisdictions. Secondly, the lecturers should familiarize primarily the judges with practical enforcement of the EC competition law in the EC Member States. Many EC Member States have fully implemented the EC Competition Law. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to achieve the unanimous interpretation of the same provisions of the EC Treaty. In this light, the case law of the European Court of Justice and the Court of the First Instance is highly relevant for the national judicial authorities; but, this case law remains often disregarded by national authorities partly because of ignorance, partly because of difficulties to understand fully a ruling passed in a foreign language. Time and location of project activities: The project will be undertaken together with the partners from Bulgaria and Romania so that to ensure the uniform application of the EC law in all the jurisdictions covered. Twofold training will be organized in Bulgaria, Romania and in three major Lithuanian cities. Final project conference will be organized in Vilnius; participants – representatives of all partner countries. The partnership of the project is significant because it stimulates co-operation, during which the experts will be able to share their experience. The respective co-operation will contribute to the effective exchange of information about new cases, pragmatic solutions and recent EU statutory developments. Practically speaking, the exchange of such information is hardly possible via other resources currently available (partly because the judges would be reluctant to disclose officially particular circumstances of the case, partly because they are uneager to publish scientific articles not being completely sure about the accuracy of the information they possess, partly because of the work-load they have. Finally, most judges of Eastern and Central Europe did not have sufficient time to learn and become fully proficient in a foreign language. English, German or French or any other foreign language skills were not really relevant for the practical work of the judicial authorities in this region because of the uniqueness of each legal system. Therefore, judges still have limited capacities to analyze directly the arguments of the ECJ and other sources of the EU competition law. The possibility to get acquainted with judgments passed in different countries pertaining to the EU Competition law would contribute mostly to the correct use of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty on the national level. Eventually, the national case law would correspond more to the European developments as well. To sum up, this co-operation offers an excellent opportunity to raise awareness about the Competition law as applicable in the EU Member States. Expected results: 102 trained target group members (from Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania) in 2-day-length (16 Hours) twofold training. Total training length - 160 hours. Prepared and published on the internet training distributive material, which will be easily accessible to all users. Organized 2-day final project conference. Prepared and published final conference collection of reports in 600 copies. Partnership: College of Social Sciences, Klaipeda, LT University of Piteşti, RO University “St. Kiril and Methodius” , Veliko Turnovo, BG Interregional SME Supply Clusters along the Northeast Corridor Project "Interregional SME Supply Clusters along the Northeast Corridor" Project acronym: “BalticSupply” Coordinator of the project: Senator for Economic Affairs and Ports, Bremen, Germany Project partners from Lithuania: Klaipeda Science and Technology Park, Lithuanian Development Agency, College of Social Sciences. Description of the project Background and problem: Small markets in the BSR and SME access barriers to European supply markets are key problems addressed by the project. They cause competitive disadvantages for Baltic SMEs and their regions compared to suppliers and regions acting in large regions. Despite the 2004 adopted EU-package of directives on public procurement, designed to reduce the administrative burden and to make procurement systems more transparent and easier for SMEs and the “Small Business Act” for Europe (SBA) from June 2008, barriers are still effective, e.g. between BSR and NSR and other European areas. Even under the single market industry-specific barriers and SME-specific barriers persist. BalticSupply seeks to encourage SMEs to be more innovative and to engage “in new sectors and niche markets”. Objectives: BalticSupply will pursue an integrated and proactive approach to shaping the future of supply logistics and linked innovation policies and competitiveness promotion strategies in the BSR. The SME Supply Cluster concept is an innovative instrument for effective regional economic development and SME promotion in the BSR. BalticSupply intends to cooperate closely with the North Sea Supply Connect project, submitted in the parallel NSR Interreg IVB call. Objectives of the project: 1. Extend knowledge for better SME performance on Northeast (NE) European SME supply markets: * Relevant SME supply markets analysis Guidelines for successful SME performance on supply markets Electronic/print company registers (SME, OEM) Electronic tender platforms; 2. Enhance competitiveness of Baltic SME on NE European supply markets: SME training and innovation programmes Electronic SME innovation partnership exchanges Promotion of business opportunities; 3. Increase impact of regional economic/innovation policy on SME involvement in NE European supply markets: 3 interregional cluster management organisations Interregional SME Supply Clusters as models for BSR-wide multiplication Infrastructure and services facilitating SME innovation partnerships&training Workshops&knowledge exchange networks for SMEs&OEM procurement managers Political support for SMEs through involvement of politicians; 4. Promote NE European integration: SME tender opportunities for Baltic SME in the NSR. Partnership: The challenges to make procurement processes more transparent and accessible for SME’s are reflected within the partnership, where we involve public bodies, semi-public institutions like transfer centres and have support from business actors like Chambers of Commerce. Many SME development bodies are involved and allow bridging the gap which often is there between European projects and the private sector. The wide geographical spread and competence of the partners puts a special focus on SME development and with their knowledge ensures that Supply Chains contribute to strengthening the regional economy. Activities and outputs: Project addresses the barriers of SMEs in large procurement processes from three sides: BalticSupply focuses on 3 supply clusters of interrregional relevance: maritime, energy&public utilities and food&life-sciences, establish with an virtual environment a “Company Register” which brings together SMEs presenting themselves for procurement processes and the demand side with large companies and public authorities, offer training modules to reduce barriers on the SME side. Results: Enhanced capacity of SMES to participate in large procurement procedures, cluster-specific networks of SMEs allowing them to jointly tender in supply logistics, stabilisation of the respective economic tissue of the regions in the 3 cluster areas, develop during the project time a model to continue the operation of the virtual environment beyond the BSR financial support. The project contributes to European and pan-Baltic policies: Lisbon A.: SME competitiveness will be improved through productivity gains from innovation, training and cooperation. Gothenburg A.: Sustainability criteria will be applied by SME Supply Cluster management and be part of the training and innovation programme. VASAB spatial policy objectives (see Wismar Declaration) are supported e.g. by the creation of interregional supply clusters and by the Corridor concept. EU Strategy for the BSR (draft January 29, 2009): the project helps to overcome trade barriers within the BSR enabling SME to operate at interregional level and to enhance their innovation capacity.

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