The modernisation regulation : its effects on the Maltese competition regime

Abstract

This dissertation examines how a revolution that has taken place within the EC competition regime has affected the Maltese competition regime. Council Regulation 1/2003, is a regulation that has brought about decentralisation in a sphere that has been dominated by the EC Commission's quasi-monopoly over the application and enforcement of Articles 81 and 82. This dissertation tries to analyze how the Office of Fair Competition, the Commission for Fair Trading and the Maltese national courts operate within such a decentralised framework. Council Regulation 1/2003 through such decentralisation has undoubtedly placed a lot of responsibilities on National Competition Authorities in all 25 Member States. This dissertation examines whether these authorities are able to fulfill their responsibilities and identify areas where they may fail to do so and why. When conducting such an examination a comparative study is also made with other Member States in order to identify common problems faced by certain Member States. The dissertation offers a few suggestions for amendments with regards to a few provisions of Malta's Competition Act which are considered to be ambiguous especially in the light of a decentralised EC competition framework. Such suggestions are mainly based on a speculative study due to the fact that the new EC competition regime has only started operating since May 2004 and therefore there has not been enough time for the decentralised system to fully gain ground.