Modernised EC Competition Law in International Arbitration by Phillip Landolt

Abstract

Modernised EC Competition Law in International Arbitration, by Phillip Landolt. Published by Kluwer Law International, The Hague (2006, xxiv + 365pp.). Price US $140 Hardcover. ISBN 90 411 23 58 X Rare is the occasion on which one comes across a book with the potential to become a classic. Any such book will have to satisfy a panoply of criteria, most important amongst which are originality in its field and comprehensiveness in its scope. Both these criteria Phillip Landolt's recent Modernised EC Competition Law in International Arbitration, published with Kluwer Law International earlier this year, fulfils admirably: It is truly original in that it is the first book to address the impact of the Modernisation of EC competition law in the field of international arbitration, and it is truly comprehensive in that it supplies the reader with a wealth of research and commentary on well nigh all precarious issues relating to the role of international arbitration in ordinary antitrust arbitrations. Landolt himself captures well the topicality of his book when he states in the Foreword: > Since no one doubts that EC competition law is arbitrable – both before Modernisation and after – it results that much of the private enforcement [facilitated by the Modernisation of EC competition law] falls to arbitral tribunals.1 This said, it is important to emphasise that the scope of this book is sensibly limited to focusing on ordinary EC antitrust arbitrations only; as opposed to EC-remedy-related arbitrations, these are arbitrations which deal with regulatory issues arising primarily under Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty2. The book does, therefore, not discuss the more specialised discourse of arbitrating disputes arising from the non– or incorrect implementation of remedies within the context of clearance or exemption decisions adopted by the European Commission under the EC antitrust or merger control rules. Other texts have indeed covered this latter aspect of arbitrating competition law issues exhaustively3 and Landolt's text would appear to be a welcome and …