Modernisation of Article 82 EC and Refusal to Supply: Any Real Change in Sight?

"This is a very fervid period for EC competition law and policy. There is a new enforcement regulation, a new merger regulation, a Green Paper on damages actions, guidelines on the application of fees, a draft Community Framework for State Aid for research, development and innovation, a proposal for the revised version of the de minimis notice and new block exemption regulations. This is also a transitional and settling phase for EC competition law as a whole. The integration of the internal market is increasingly emerging as a reality. The need for an economic approach toward competition law issues has been openly recognised and will slowly evolve at the EU and national level. There is the pressure and challenge of globalisation, and the growing recognition of the urgency for achieving international cooperation. In this context of new developments as well as consolidation, the current focus in the discussion of EC competition law discussions has turned to the “modernisation”, or, more precisely, “a comprehensive reassessment”, of the