Mission and Objectives

The European University of Rome (EUR) hosts a series of Seminars (both residential and  non-residential) on Competition law enforcement in digital markets (DiCL project – Digital Markets and Competition Law) devoted and reserved to EU national judges.

The DiCL project is directed by Valeria Falce (Jean Monnet Chair in the EU Innovation Policy and Professor of Economic Law) and co-financed by the European Commission (Directorate General for Competition). It is a two-year project divided into two distinct course editions (Summer 2020 /Summer 2021).

The overall purpose of the project is to foster a common legal and judicial culture, in order to apply in a coherent and consistent fashion the EU competition rules in the rapidly evolving digital scenario. This objective will be pursued by sharing national judicial experience and contributing to provide them with the necessary interdisciplinary tools to apply competition law in the digital age in an effective manner within the European Union.

The Project is addressed to:

• National Judges dealing with competition law cases at national level
• National judges interested in competitive issues in digital markets
• Prosecutores, Apprentice National Judges, and the staff of the Judges’ Offices

Accepted applicants commit to participate in person to the residential activities (two seminars and one final conference)

Participation in DiCL project is free of charge. Moreover, travel and accommodation costs in Rome for the selected participants will be covered by the project.

Structure and Main topics

The overall project is composed of two separate editions, each one providing:

• One residential trainings (one and a half day each), to be held in Rome: focusing both on the theory(ies) of competition law and policy in the digital environment and on the most recent cases at EU level.
• Secured and dedicated e-lectures on “Competition Law and Economics toolbox for Digital Markets”;
• Tutoring Service providing with reading list about relevant Case-law, academic literature and other documents, including a glossary, and coordinating an online forum in order to promote e-debates between the National Judges;
• Final Networking Conference (common to the two course editions), to be held in Rome in October 2021, aimed at sharing experiences in an interactive environment.

The main issues and topics covered by training course are:

• market definition in digital markets, with a specific focus on zero price markets, “freemium prices”, as well as on two or multi-sided markets;
• assessment of market power and dominance in digital markets, with specific attention to the role of network effects and leap-frogging effects, dynamic efficiencies, and the role of “private” vs “public” market information;
• recent case law and decisional practice concerning digital markets and potential theories of harm – including new forms of collusion, (e.g., use of algorithms) and refusal to provide access to essential inputs (e.g., Big Data).