The Project

Overall Objective

The Project addresses both the objectives of training and networking, through the organization of three country workshops, one international joint workshop and one open conference. It intends to provide advanced and interactive training to Judges and Prosecutors from Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece, who are involved in the adjudication of EU Competition Law affairs in their countries.

Specific Aims

• Fifty (50) members of the Judiciary (i.e., judges and prosecutors) originating in three (3) different EU Member States will be trained on how to effectively apply EU Competition Law and address domestic law constraints. The training will provide a thorough grounding in the essentials of economic analysis in Competition Law and prepare participants for issues likely to arise in the enforcement of Competition Law.

• Fifteen (15) members of the Judiciary from all three project countries will be selected to further specialize on the main challenges in applying economic techniques in processing and adjudicating cases involving EU Competition Law.

• The Project will identify the most important problems the judiciary faces in every project country when processing and adjudicating competition law cases, and ways to address such problems so that EU Competition Law is better enforced in each country.

• The members of the judiciary involved in the Project will act as multipliers within their justice communities with a view to addressing impediments existing in their domestic legal orders when enforcing EU Competition Law.

Phase A) Three Country Workshops: Training activities will be conducted exclusively in a workshop mode. Trainees will work on real case studies, which will be presented to them by the trainers and the participating experts. Short presentations will precede the examination of case studies on the specific issues raised by each case presented. One (1) training workshop will be held in every Project Country. The duration of each Country Workshop has been designed in order to address the specific needs of the domestic judiciaries and will be of three (3) days of six (6) hours per day. A total of 50 Judges and Prosecutors will participate to the three Country Workshops: 20 in Bulgaria, 10 in Cyprus and 20 in Greece. The seminars will focus on issues of both general interest (i.e.: EU substantive law issues governing competition affairs and judicial remedies and protection) and sector-specific interest (i.e.: Competition issues arising in sectors like energy, banking, media and telecom). Emphasis will also be given to the evolutionary aspects of policymaking and competition law enforcement, given the increasing importance and use of economic analysis.

Phase B) One Joint Workshop: A team of fifteen (15) judges and prosecutors (5 Greeks, 5 Bulgarians and 5 Cypriots) will be selected following Phase A among members of the judiciary who have attended the country workshops. This group will participate in a two (2) day workshop to be held in Athens, Greece. The workshop will focus on addressing the main difficulties in applying economic techniques in processing and adjudicating EU Competition Law cases at country level and the ways to overcome them. This is a “hands-on” workshop where judges will be assessing the use of economics in actual cases under the guidance of the experts. The principal language of the Joint Workshop will be English. Experts from all three (3) National Competition Authorities will also participate in the Joint Workshop sharing respective views and experiences.

Phase C) One Open Conference: After the joint workshop, and in cooperation with the members of the participating judiciaries and authorities, the Project will organize a one-day open conference in Athens, Greece, on the issue of «Economic Principles Underlying EU Competition Law». The objective of this conference will be for the participating judges in the joint workshop to address the differences in the application of the basic economic principles in all three jurisdictions in a comparative approach. The presentations will be discussed with other members of the Judiciary, Academia and Law Practitioners.

Phase D) Project report: Following the conference, a Project Report will be prepared identifying the main difficulties in enforcing EU and national competition law in each project jurisdiction, with special emphasis on the application of economic principles, and proposing ways of action for remedying the same. The Project Report will be handed over to the competent authorities in every Project Country for follow-up.