European Antitrust Policy 1957-2004: An Analysis of Commission Decisions

Abstract

This paper provides a survey of European antitrust law enforcement since its foundation in the Treaty of Rome of 1957 up to and including 2004. We present a complete overview and statistical analysis of all 538 formal Commission decisions under Articles 81, 82 and 86 of the European Community Treaty. We report a range of summary statistics concerning report route, investigation duration, length of the decision, decision type, imposed fines, number of parties, sector classification, nationality and Commissioner and Director General responsible. The statistics are linked to changes in legislation and administrative implementation, thereby providing a historical overview that summarizes the Commission's work in the area of antitrust. We estimate the determinants of the size of the imposed fine in case of an infringement. Against 166 of 538 decisions one or more appeals were lodged. We estimate the determinants of probability that a finding of an infringement is appealed against.

Keywords: Appeal, Competition policy, European Commission

JEL Classification: L40, K21