(Why) Did EU Net Neutrality Rules Overshoot the ark? Internet, Disruptive Innovation and EU Competition Law & Policy

Journal Title: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies - Year 2018, Vol 11, Issue 18

Abstract

This essay raises a number of theses in support for a more liberalised approach to EU Net Neutrality rules. It offers a graded system of levels of regulatory intervention, arguing that soft Net Neutrality rules are capable of meeting all positive objectives of regulation without causing the problems generated by hard Net Neutrality rules, such as those currently in place in the EU. Hard Net Neutrality rules prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from making disruptive innovations. Meanwhile, they enable some Content and Application Providers (CAPs) to monopolise many markets via (disruptive) innovations, resulting in newly established dominant positions which have, in many instances, been abused. The hypothesis of the essay is that loosening the rules on Net Neutrality would create competition between ISPs and CAPs as well as (which is even more important) between different CAPs for limited premium speed traffic. Such newly established competition could remedy some antitrust conundrums faced by EU competition enforcers and sectorial regulators vis-à-vis disruptive innovators in the area of electronic communications.

Authors and Affiliations

Oles Andriychuk

Keywords

Related Articles

Recent Developments Regarding the Conduct of Dawn Raids in Poland. The Case of Subsequent Searches of Copied IT Data

2017 brought about a significant and long awaited change in the rules applicable to dawn raids in Poland. After many years of being criticized by scholars and practitioners, the practice of the President of the Office of...

Grounds for Private Enforcement of Albanian Competition Law

Infringements of competition law can cause serious harm to both consumers and undertakings. Aside from the development of public enforcement of competition law, much focus has been placed in recent...

The Type of Liability in Private Enforcement in Selected CEE Countries Relating to the Implementation of the Damages Directive

The article is devoted to the type of liability in selected CEE countries, namely those covered by the national reports drafted for the 2nd International Conference on Harmonization of Private Antitrust Enforcement: Cent...

Proving the Grounds for Compensation – Reflections on Private Enforcement in the Polish Cement Cartel Case. Case Comment to the Judgment of the Court of Appeals in Cracow of 10 January 2014 (Ref. No IACa 1322/13)

Despite the fact that the right to full compensation of harm caused by the breach of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU was confirmed in European Union jurisprudence many years ago,and that actions for damages for competition law...

Joint and Several Liability of Competition Law Infringers in the Legislation of Central and Eastern European Member States

The study reviews the provisions of the Directive by, first, presenting its general rule – joint and several liability – and then its two exceptions, pointing out that albeit they contain similar solutions, these have di...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP520566
  • DOI 10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2018.11.18.9
  • Views 82
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Oles Andriychuk (2018). (Why) Did EU Net Neutrality Rules Overshoot the ark? Internet, Disruptive Innovation and EU Competition Law & Policy. Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies, 11(18), 227-239. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-520566