The compatibility of the standard of judicial review in EU competition law with article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights

This thesis brings two different, but interrelated worlds together. It assesses whether the standard of review applied in competition law cases by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is sufficient to comply with the right to a fair trial of Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Within the framework of EU competition law, the EU judicature is called to review antitrust and merger decisions adopted by the European Commission. Since those decisions adversely affect the business and property rights of economic entities, it is essential that an effective judicial control is subsequently carried out by an independent and impartial tribunal. On this account, Article 6(1) of the ECHR imposes certain minimum requirements that the EU courts must fulfil despite the fact that the Convention does not form part of EU law. My first goal is to decipher the foregoing requirements by perusing the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), to wit the institution entrusted to interpret and apply the Convention authoritatively. My second goal is to define the standard of judicial review applied in EU competition law by scrutinizing the relevant case law of the CJEU. My third and most important goal is to determine in a substantiated manner whether the conditions set by the ECtHR are satisfied by the CJEU.