Objectives of the course
The course “Practicum:“Competition Law” is aimed to familiarise students with the basic principles of European Competition Law with an emphasis on training the research, writing and oral skills.
Short description of the course
Students will be introduced to the area of European Competition Law both from a procedural as well as a substantive point of view, i.e. Articles 81, 82, merger control and the rules on State aid. Students will be taught how to read and analyse competition law cases from the European Court of Justice as well as decisions of the European Commission. Special attention will also be paid to the interaction of European Competition Law with the legal orders of the Member States.
Students will be required to familiarise themselves thoroughly with the materials of the course. They will be required to write papers on a number of topics to train their research and writing skills. Furthermore, they will be asked to give presentations on specific issues and will thereby practice their oral presentation skills.
Achievement levels
The following achievement levels apply with regard to the course: At the end of this course, students will:
have a good understanding of the foundations of European Competition law, of how markets in the EU are defined and on competitive and anti-competitive company behavior,
have conducted independent research in the area of European Competition Law and practiced their oral and writing skills by giving a presentation and handing in a number of papers on specific subject-matters.
Coördinator
Name: Bas van Bockel
Work address: KOG, Steenschuur 25
Contact information: Room B 1.34
Telephone number: +31 (0)71 527 7761
E-mail: w.b.vanbockel@law.leidenuniv.nl
Departement/division
Department: Public Law
Division: European law
Room number secretariat: B 1.19
Opening hours: Mon – Fri. 9.00 – 17.00
Telephone number secretariat: 071 527 7760
E-mail: f.p.oldenhof@law.leidenuniv.nl
Onderwijsvormen
Lectures
In the first weeks there will be two introductory lectures, intended to lay the foundation for the rest of the course.
“Court sessions”
The heart of the practicum consists of 8 weeks, during which the students act in small groups as participants in courts session which will be held on the basis of fictional cases or cases that are pending before the ECJ. Each subgroup will act in turn as the Applicant, as the Defendant, as the AG or as the Court. In this role they submit papers and give oral presentations of their views on the case. To this end, the students will meet once a week during 2-4 hours in “court sessions” (depending on the case to be discussed). The students will have to conduct individual research (library and internet) when preparing their papers and presentations.
Total number of lectures and “court sessions”: 10 (4 hours each)
Other methods of instruction
Each paper will be carefully read and graded. General remarks about the papers will be made in class; individual papers may be further discussed with the author when necessary. The oral presentations will be followed by plenary discussion in class; individual feedback will be given afterwards.
Studiemateriaal
Obligatory course materials
Students are required to collect the relevant material themselves. Enhancing the students’ research skills is an important objective of the course.
They may, however, use the following book as complementary reading:
- Giorgio Monti, EC competition law, Cambridge 2007.
Recommended course materials
None.
Toetsing
Examination form(s)
4 papers
2 oral presentations
final paper
The 2 oral presentations and the 4 papers each account for 10% of the final grade. The final paper accounts for 30%, participation in class accounts for 10% of the final grade.
Submission procedures
The papers have to be handed in electronically one week in advance to the course coordinator. The oral presentations will be given and discussed in class.
Areas to be tested within the exam
Not applicable (there is no written exam). The final paper will test the individual student’s ability to write a coherent and sufficiently “academic” paper (since the other papers are the result of the teamwork of the subgroups).
Ingangseis
Bachelor degree in law and sufficient English knowledge.
Rooster
The time table can be found at the following website: www.law.leidenuniv.nl
Inschrijving
Via U-Twist
Digitale leeromgeving
This course uses Blackboard (digital learning environment).