Procedural justice in the age of tech giants – justifying the EU Commission’s approach to competition law enforcement

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to highlight the need for a new understanding of what constitutes “procedural justice” in EU competition law enforcement. This is done via an exploration of the concept of procedural justice, followed by a synthetization of this concept with the conceptual underpinnings of EU competition law. The modern realities of EU competition law are then examined, with a particular focus on the Commission's approach to Google. The general thrust of the argument presented is that considering the nature of the problems facing the Commission, it is not necessary, as a matter of justice, to consider large tech firms as being endowed with a huge panoply of procedural justice rights.