EC COMPETITION RULES AND THE FREEDOMS OF THE INTERNAL MARKET. BETWEEN CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE

• Authors: Szydlo M.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Rules of competition and the four freedoms of the internal market are one of the most important part of the EC Treaty. Their importance consist in constituing the internal market, which has to be understood as area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured. Without any doubt one can say, that rules of competition and the four freedoms are the foundations of the internal market. Each of these philars contributes to the proper functioning of the internal market in different way. Rules of competition are intended to eliminating anticompetitive practices, which are carried out by undertakings. In contrast to that, the four freedoms are directed against Member States and they compel them to abolish all barrier frustrating the free movement. Rules of competition are concerned mainly with activity of private parties (economic operators), which are engaged in the economic life. At the same time the four freedom are linked with powerfull activity of Member State, which can be named imperium. Nevertheless, in the doctrine of EC law and mainly in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) there were observed many similarities between these two set of Treaty rules. Above-mentioned similarities are apparent in such fields as: objects of these rules (finally they have one common object: internal market), adressee of the basic prohibitions (rules of competition are adresed not only to the undertakings, but also to the Member State, for example within the framework of so called State Action Doctrine; four freedoms are binding not only for Member States but also determine - at least partly - activity of the private parties) and the exceptions from these two set of rules (these exceptions have its source directly in the text of Treaty and also in the jurisprudence of the ECJ). Worth of mentionig here is also such tendence in the jurisprudence of the ECJ, which consist in using some constructions elaborated in one field (e.g. four freedoms) in order to resolve some problems growed in the second field (e.g. competition rules). Reasuming onep can say, that descibed similarities are sign of process of convergence, which takes place in the sphere of judical rules governing the internal market.

Keywords

EN

EC COMPETITION RULES; INTERNAL MARKET'S FOUR FREEDOMS

Discipline

• LAW_&_ADMINISTRATION: LAW & ADMINISTRATION

• Publisher: Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN / Institute of Legal Studies PAN
• Journal: Studia Prawnicze
• Year: 2005
• Issue: 3(165)
• Pages: 65-109
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Szydlo M.

• M. Szydlo, Uniwersytet Wroclawski, pl. Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wroclaw, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA00761884