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The EU Essential Facilities Doctrine

Author(s):

  • Hatzopoulos, Vassilis

Subject Area: Law

Publication Price: $0

Series Name: Michigan Paper Series

Series Number: 0

Publication Date: 2006

Description: The doctrine of essential facilities originates in the US antitrust case law of the Circuit and District Courts, but has never been officially acknowledged by the Supreme Court. It has been further developed and hotly debated by scholars in the US, both from a legal and from an economic viewpoint. In the EU, the essential facilities doctrine was openly introduced by the Commission during the early 1990s, but has received only limited and indirect support by the Court of First Instance (the CFI) and the European Court of Justice (the ECJ). It also indirectly inspired the legislation concerning the deregulation of traditional ‘natural’ monopolies.

Notes/Comments: Michigan Paper Series