Competition Law and Sustainable Development. An Inquiry by Legal Essay.

Abstract

If society takes a turn towards organizing itself on a sustainable footing then the economic order of society, and with it the law, will (have to) change. It follows that if law is understood as consisting of legal rules, regulations and their enforcement which govern the (legal) relationships between actors in society, then economic law - as governing these relationships of the economic order - will have to change to accommodate a changing society. This includes that part of economic law that relates to the government regulating economic relations on the market: public economic law. Competition law is part of public economic law. In this essay I will investigate what the above means for European competition law. Competition law and policy can be seen as a tool - an instrument - to attain a societal goal.It is part of the larger toolbox of economic policy, which in turn is part of the organization of (the economic order of) society. Competition policy applies to market relations: the interaction between companies and the relationship between government and companies. This essay starts from the proposition that current competition law can be a stumbling block for private sustainability-initiatives. This proposition is explained, but will be preceded by an introduction relating to the meaning of the all-compassing, and therefore threateningly empty, concept of sustainable development. The essay will then foray into a discussion of how to solve the problem of competition law for a sustainable society and well end with some conclusion as to that topic.