SEMINAR IN EUROPEAN COMPETITION LAW FOR NATIONAL JUDGES
2010.02.04. - 18:40:30
Private Enforcement of EU State Aid Rules before National Courts
12-13 February, 2010
The OECD-Hungary Regional Centre for Competition in Budapest and the Competition Division of the OECD are inviting European judges to participate in an EC competition law seminar on "Private Enforcement of EU State Aid Rules before National Courts" on 12 and 13 February 2010 in Budapest. To give participants sufficient time to become familiar with this area of the law, which relies in many ways on concepts and procedures that are different from the law under Articles 101 and 102 (ex-Article 81 and 82), the entire seminar will be devoted to state aid issues.
This seminar is co-financed by the European Commission.
Private enforcement of EU state aid rules before national courts has become an important area of EU competition law, with the potential to become even more significant as an increasing number of companies begin to understand how to challenge grants of state aid to their competitors before national courts and/or how to seek to recover damages. The European Commission has also promoted private enforcement in this area and has developed a cooperation procedure with national courts. Thus, national courts are expected to see an increasing number of private actions involving EU state aid rules. The seminar will provide an introduction to EU state aid rules, covering key concepts such as the notion of "aid", when aid is granted by the "state", as well as the basic institutional and procedural regime. The second part of the seminar will focus on specific issues concerning the enforcement of state aid rules before national courts, including standing and jurisdiction, the types of actions that can be brought, procedural issues, and remedies that parties can seek.
