Larouche, Pierre --- "Contrasting Legal Solutions and the Comparability of EU and US Experiences" [2009] ELECD 565; in Lévêque, François; Shelanski, Howard (eds), "Antitrust and Regulation in the EU and US" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Antitrust and Regulation in the EU and US

Editor(s): Lévêque, François; Shelanski, Howard

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207616

Section: Chapter 3

Section Title: Contrasting Legal Solutions and the Comparability of EU and US Experiences

Author(s): Larouche, Pierre

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

3. Contrasting legal solutions and
the comparability of EU and US
experiences
Pierre Larouche*

In the broad area of economic regulation, comprising general competi-
tion/antitrust law as well as sectoral regulation, ideas flow very easily and
very extensively across the Atlantic, with the USA remaining the centre of
gravity, however.
This free flow of ideas is stimulated by a broadly shared willingness
to base economic regulation on economic analysis. Economics is meant
to be unique, i.e. applicable in a variety of specific national contexts
without losing its universality. On the other hand, lawyers typically
like to point out at differences between the legal systems ­ and more
broadly, alleged differences in "legal culture" ­ to argue for diverging
solutions. These claims are also often exaggerated, and indeed recourse
to economic analysis helps to debunk them. Nevertheless, in some cases,
legitimate legal differences between the EC and the US on matters of
economic regulation might affect the universal applicability of economic
science.
By way of illustration of the above, this chapter examines two specific
issues relating to competition law and telecommunications regulation:

I. the hierarchy in the application of competition law and sector-
specific regulation: the US Supreme Court decision in Trinko and
the Commission decision in the Deutsche Telekom price squeeze case
evidence two different approaches;
II. the principle of technological neutrality and the place of competi-
tion law principles in sector-specific regulation: here the approach
of the FCC under the Communications Act can be compared with
that of ...